WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday issued a subpoena to a top federal prosecutor involved in the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden, demanding answers for what they allege is Justice Department interference in the yearslong case against the son of the president.
Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has summoned Lesley Wolf, the assistant U.S. attorney for Delaware, to appear before the committee by Dec. 7, according to a copy of the congressional subpoena obtained by The Associated Press .
“Based on the Committee’s investigation to date, it is clear that you have specialized and unique information that is not available to the Committee through other sources and without which the Committee’s investigation would be incomplete,” Jordan wrote in an accompanying letter to Wolf.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The subpoena to Wolf is the latest in a series of demands made by Jordan and other Republican chairs as part of their expansive impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. His youngest son Hunter and brother James received subpoenas last week as Republicans sought to gain ground in their nearly year-long investigation, which has failed to uncover evidence directly implicating the president in any wrongdoing.
The investigation focuses both on the Biden family’s international business affairs and on the Justice Department’s investigation into Hunter Biden, which Republicans say has been slow and stymied since the case was opened in 2018.
Wolf, who is acting as deputy to David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware in charge of the case, has been accused by Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers of “deviating from standard investigative protocol” and giving preferential treatment because Hunter Biden was the right-hand man of the president. son.
Republicans have argued that it was clear that prosecutors did not want to touch anything that would include Hunter Biden’s father. In one case, Gary Shapley, an IRS employee assigned to the case, testified that during a meeting with Weiss and Wolf after the 2020 election, he and other agents wanted to discuss an email between Hunter Biden associates in which one person referred to the ‘Big Guy.” Shapley said Wolf refused, saying she didn’t want to ask questions about “Dad.”
Other claims relate to an August 2020 email in which Wolf instructed investigators to remove any mention of “Political Figure 1,” who was known to be Biden, from a search warrant. In another incident, FBI officials provided advance notice of Hunter Biden’s Secret Service details. of an attempt to interrogate him and several of his business associates to prevent a possible shootout between two law enforcement agencies.
Justice Department officials have refuted these claims by pointing to the extraordinary circumstances surrounding a criminal case against a suspect who was the son of a leading presidential candidate at the time. Department policy has long warned prosecutors to be cautious in charging cases with potential political overtones around the time of elections to avoid any potential influence on the outcome.
Weiss himself appeared for a closed-door interview this month and denied allegations of political interference.
“Political considerations played no role in our decision-making,” he told the committee.
Nevertheless, Republicans are demanding that Wolf appear before lawmakers because she has “firsthand knowledge of the department’s criminal investigation into Hunter Biden,” and she declined a voluntary request to come in over the summer.
Jordan wrote in the letter to Wolf: “Given the critical role you played in the Hunter Biden investigation, you are uniquely positioned to shed light on whether President Biden played any role in the Department’s investigation and whether he has in any way attempted to directly or indirectly obstruct that investigation or our investigation.”