Week in a Nutshell, 6/7/24

June 7, 2024

Week in a Nutshell, 6/7/24

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland respnds to a question during testimony at a hearing by the House Judiciary Committee, Washington, DC, June 4, 2024. (Photo by ALLISON BAILEY/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Here is some of the legal news making the headlines this week:

House Republicans issued criminal referrals to the Department of Justice against President Joe Biden’s son and brother accusing them of lying to Congress.

In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith allege Hunter Biden and James Biden made false statements in testimony before the committees. They wrote, “Hunter Biden and James Biden made provably false statements to the Oversight Committee and the Judiciary Committee about key aspects of the impeachment inquiry, in what appears to be a conscious effort to hinder the investigation’s focus on President Joe Biden.”
The chairmen accuse Hunter Biden of lying about whether he held a leadership position in a corporation that received foreign funding, and they allege Hunter gave an “entirely fictitious account” of text messages he sent to a Chinese business partner that mentioned Joe Biden was present with him at the time.
The referral also accuses James Biden of lying about whether Joe Biden met with a business associate, Tony Bobulinski, in 2017 regarding a business deal with a Chinese company. The Republican congressmen claim that the lies implicate President Biden in a corruption scheme, writing, “The nature of these false statements is not lost on the Committees: Every instance implicates Joe Biden’s knowledge of and role in his family’s influence peddling.”
Also this week, Attorney General Garland testified before the House Judiciary Committee. When asked if he has attempted to obstruct the Hunter Biden investigation led by special counsel David Weiss, Garland replied, “Absolutely not.” Garland also said he has “never spoken to Hunter Biden in [his] life.” The attorney general also answered questions about Trump’s recent conviction in Manhattan. He assured lawmakers that the Manhattan DA’s office is “completely independent” from the federal Department of Justice.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed conspiracy charges against a former Trump aide and two attorneys who sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump.

Kaul charged Trump campaign aide Michael Roman and attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and James Troupis with one felony count each of conspiracy to commit forgery. The attorney general accused the defendants of organizing a group of individuals in furtherance of “a conspiracy to present a certificate of purported electoral votes from individuals who were not Wisconsin’s duly appointed electors.”
The attorney general did not charge Trump or any of the fake electors, but during a press conference, he said the investigation is ongoing. Kaul said, “I’m not going to speak to any specific individual, but the investigation is ongoing, and decisions will be made based on the facts and the law, not on the identity of any individual.”
Wisconsin is the fifth state to pursue charges against Trump allies for their involvement in efforts to subvert the results of the election. Charges have also been filed in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Arizona.