House Democrat says Biden has 'restored the integrity' of DOJ
Rep. Dan Goldman tells ABC that President Biden has restored the Justice Department's 'integrity.'
Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., insisted Sunday that President Biden has "restored the integrity of Department of Justice," despite the DOJ facing heat from conservatives for a plethora of issues as many feel it has been weaponized.
ABC News' Jonathan Karl noted that White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has said a pardon for Hunter Biden is off the table, but that President Biden himself hasn’t publicly ruled it out, before asking if a pardon for his son would be a mistake.
"Yes, and I don’t think there’s any chance that President Biden is going to do that, unlike his predecessor, who pardoned all his friends and anyone who had any access to him," Goldman said on "This Week."
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Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., insisted President Biden has "restored the integrity of Department of Justice." (Jon Michael Raasch/Fox News)
"President Biden has restored the integrity of Department of Justice, and I think you see that in this case where he kept on — and Merrick Garland kept on a Trump-appointed attorney to investigate the president’s son," Goldman continued. "If there is not an indication of the independence of the Department of Justice beyond that, I don’t know what we can look for."
Many critics on the right feel Biden has weaponized the DOJ, however, as the country's federal agencies continue to generate fierce debate. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said he believes the Department of Justice is trying to obstruct the GOP’s investigation of the president's son.
"The lengths to which the Biden legal team has gone to try to intimidate our witnesses, to coordinate with the Department of Justice and to certainly coordinate with the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee to encourage people not to cooperate with our investigation, to encourage banks not to turn over bank records, to encourage Treasury not to let us have access to those suspicious activity reports, it's very troubling. And I believe that… this is another violation of the law. This is obstruction of justice," Comer said on "Sunday Morning Futures."
Goldman’s claim came less than three weeks after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy penned a Fox News Digital opinion piece which claimed "evidence continues to mount that the Biden Justice Department enforces the law unequally by tilting the scales to favor friends and family while unleashing the FBI and prosecutors on President Biden’s political opponent."
Former President Trump has also scolded the DOJ as "abuse" and feels he is targeted for being atop the 2024 GOP presidential primary field.
"It's election interference at the highest level," Trump told Fox News Digital last week, just after he learned of the latest indictment against him. "They’re harassing my company, they’re harassing my family and by far, least importantly of all, they’re harassing me."
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., took aim Thursday at the "forces within Biden's DOJ" that he said seek to protect the president and his family, suggesting there may be individuals within the Justice Department that have been "suppressing" certain information.
"The only explanation for the sweetheart deal is forces within Biden’s DOJ protecting his family. We’ve seen it time and time again – DOJ weaponized to hunt Republicans and protect Democrats. It’s un-American and when I’m president we’re going to clean house and start over," Scott said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "It shouldn’t take years for evidence and information on Hunter Biden’s transactions from drugs to guns to contracts to come to light unless there are forces within Biden’s DOJ suppressing that information."
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Many conservatives feel the Justice Department has been weaponized under President Biden. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Scott continued, "We cannot continue to see the biased weaponization of the DOJ against political opponents, pro-life activists, and parents who want a better education for their kids, while simultaneously protecting Democrats."
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Mike Howell, director of the Oversight Project at the Heritage Foundation, said that "something is rotten in the state of Delaware, and the judge sniffed it out today." Paul Kamenar, counsel for the National Legal and Policy Center, said it's absurd that a multi-year Justice Department investigation ultimately resulted in misdemeanor charges.
"It's outrageous that after a five-year investigation of Hunter Biden, and the recent IRS whistleblowers' sworn testimony of a Justice Department coverup and obstruction, the best that the prosecutor can come up with is a couple misdemeanor charges and recommend probation as a slap on the wrist," Kamenar told Fox News Digital.
"Thankfully, Judge Norieka rejected the plea deal as we urged, but it remains to be seen if a new deal is agreed to," Kamenar added.
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller, Joe Schoffstall, Kyle Morris and Brook Singman contributed to this report.
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