Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) clashed with Attorney General Merrick Garland during a House Judiciary Committee hearing this week, with his questioning almost entirely being devoted primarily to alleging that President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden receiving bribes.
Rep. Gaetz began by bluntly asking if the Department of Justice has "told President Biden to knock it off" regarding Hunter, who is under investigation, and being charged with, tax, bribery, and gun ownership charges.
AG Garland said the DOJ investigates cases "without reference to what is happening in the outside world," which Rep. Gaetz took for a "no."
Gaetz immediately moved to inquire if Hunter's sales of his artwork have anything to do with selling access to President Biden, pointing to the case of Democrat donor Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali was found to have been a buyer before her appointment to the Biden Administration's Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad.
"Doesn't it look weird that [Hunter] has become this immediate success in the art world as his dad is the President of the United States?" asked Gaetz.
AG Garland declined to comment, but Gaetz kept going.
The next question related to the testimony of former business associate Devon Archer, who claimed Hunter "sold the appearance of access to then-Vice President Biden," asking if Garland was "confident" this was no longer the case.
"I am going to say again that all these matters are within the purview of [Special Counsel David] Weiss. I have not interfered with him," came Garland's answer.
Gaetz only jumped to questions surrounding the Biden Administration's dissolution of the China Initiative established by President Donald Trump, which intended to capture Chinese spies. The Florida Congressman asked why the Initiative dissolved, especially when money funneled through the supposed Biden shell companies originally came from China.
The answer was that China was just one of several threats to the United States, with Russia, Iran, and North Korea being the other three, and as such, "we need to focus our attention on the broad range of these attacks."
Gaetz expressed incredulity at Garland seemingly equating North Korea with China, barraging him with several more questions reiterating the apparent source of the Bidens' money from the Chinese, most notably if he knew about the money going through Biden associate Rob Walker.
Garland attempted to start answering, starting with North Korea, but Gaetz quickly shut him down and demanded to know if Garland knew about Rob Walker's shell companies.
"As I have said repeatedly, I have left these matters to Mr. Weiss," Garland reiterated.
"It is like you are looking the other way on purpose," Gaetz fumed, "because everybody knows this is happening. And you know, people do not pay bribes to not get something in return, right? The China Initiative resulted in the convictions of a Harvard professor. And of someone from Monsanto. So we were working against the Chinese, they paid the Bidens, and now you are sitting here telling me that North Korea is the big threat?"
