Biden’s relationship with his AG Merrick Garland is now in ‘DEEP FREEZE’ because White House ‘thinks tough probes into Hunter and classified documents are unfair’

Joe Biden’s relationship with his attorney general, Merrick Garland, is so icy it’s “in deep freeze,” according to a report Saturday.

Biden and his aides are outraged by Garland’s decision to appoint special counsel to investigate both Biden’s handling of classified documents and his son Hunter’s business affairs. They said The Wall Street Journal that Garland was seen as going too far in his attempt to appear independent of Biden, who appointed him.

But Garland’s aides told the newspaper that the widely respected, understated official was simply trying to quell any suspicion that Biden influenced his decisions.

Biden, 80, repeatedly emphasized in hiring Garland, 70, that he chose someone with integrity and independence.

Determined to distinguish himself from Donald Trump, who repeatedly called on his two attorneys generals — Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr — Biden vowed not to interfere with Garland’s work.

“Over the past four years, we have had a president who has made his contempt for our democracy, our Constitution and the rule of law clear in everything he has done,” Biden said in January 2021, naming his cabinet as president-elect.

“More than anything, we must restore the honor, integrity and independence of the Department of Justice that has been so badly damaged.”

As he guided Garland onto the stage, he told him, “You don’t work for me.”

But now that independence is proving to be problematic, sources told the newspaper.

Biden’s aides noted that prosecutors have already concluded their investigation into former Vice President Mike Pence’s handling of classified documents after papers were found in his Indiana home.

Pence’s papers were found the same month that the documents were in Biden’s home in Delaware: both Biden and Pence handed over the documents to authorities and announced the discovery themselves – unlike Trump.

But Biden’s case has now been referred to a special prosecutor, the aides noted.

And a lawyer for Hunter Biden — who was federally indicted Thursday on charges of lying about his drug use on a gun permit — accused Garland of being biased against the Bidens.

The attorney said the decisions to appoint a special prosecutor and charge Hunter after he agreed to a plea deal showed “biased interference in this process.”

Some Biden aides believed Garland should have done more in response to an IRS whistleblower, Gary Shapley, who publicly alleged that the Justice Department interfered in an investigation into Hunter Biden’s business and tax affairs.

Biden’s aides believed that Shapley’s approach to Republican members of Congress, telling them he had concerns, was an inappropriate leak of information.

Garland worked as a senior Justice Department official under Bill Clinton’s attorney general, Janet Reno, who angered Clinton by launching an investigation that eventually led to the revelations of his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

“Merrick comes from the exact same school,” said a former department official who worked with both Reno and Garland.

“They both believe very strongly in the independent and apolitical nature of the department, which is good for the department, but not always so good for the attorney general’s relationship with the president.”

Barack Obama, on the other hand, was criticized for being too close to his attorney general, Eric Holder.

Trump, however, was famously combative with his own, publicly criticizing them and weighing in on their decisions.

“Attorneys general should be sympathetic to the goals of the administration, but not too close to the president personally,” said Bill Barr, Trump’s last attorney general.

And Barr told it The Wall Street Journal it was a thankless task.

“There’s no way around it,” he said.

“In high-profile cases, the attorney general should own these decisions. He can’t say, “Well, I just left it to someone else.”

Garland’s spokesman declined to comment.

White House spokeswoman Olivia Dalton said Biden appointed Garland “because of his decades of loyalty to the rule of law, consistent with his pledge when he ran for president to restore the independence of the Justice Department, free from political interference.” ‘