House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan excoriated Attorney General Merrick Garland Wednesday for the Justice Department’s actions that appear to shield President Biden and his son while aggressively pursuing criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.
“Everyone knows the fix is in,” Mr. Jordan, Ohio Republican, said as he faced off with Mr. Garland at a hearing for the first time since Republicans took the majority. “And you wonder why four out of five Americans believe there are now two standards of justice in our great country.”
Mr. Jordan, in his opening statement at the panel’s inaugural oversight hearing of the Justice Department, accused Mr. Garland of trying to protect Hunter Biden from tax fraud and gun charges by blocking lead prosecutor David Weiss from bringing those charges, and then offering a “ridiculous” sweetheart plea deal.
Mr. Trump faced much harsher tactics from the Justice Department, Mr. Jordan said, including an aggressive search of his Mar-a-Lago home for classified documents that rejected allowing Mr. Trump’s lawyers to participate, calling it “a complete departure from standard protocol.”
It’s Mr. Garland’s first appearance before the GOP-led Judiciary panel and follows the Sept. 12 launch of an impeachment inquiry by the House GOP into President Biden’s alleged involvement in his son’s foreign business deals.
Mr. Garland will face dozens of questions from Republicans and Democrats, some of them dovetailing with the impeachment inquiry that will be led by the Oversight and Accountability panel, which plans a Sept. 28 hearing.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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