Grassley’s Questions follow:
Attorney General Garland, at last year’s FBI oversight hearing, Director
Wray committed to protecting whistleblowers that have approached my office
about Justice Department and FBI wrongdoing.
Do you commit to me, this committee and the United States Senate that
any retaliatory conduct against whistleblowers will be disciplined?
I’m going to set up a hypothetical fact pattern for you. First, the Justice Department and FBI received
information from over a dozen sources.
Second, those sources provided similar information about the potential
criminal conduct relating to a single individual. Third, that information was shared with the
Department and FBI over a period of years.
According to Department policy and procedure, what steps would the
Department take to determine the truth and accuracy of the information provided
by the sources?
Recent lawfully protected whistleblower disclosures to my office
indicate that the Justice Department and FBI had – at one time – over a dozen sources that provided
potentially criminal information relating to Hunter Biden. The alleged volume and similarity of information
would demand that the Justice Department investigate the truth and accuracy of
the information. Accordingly, what steps has the Justice Department taken to
determine the truth and accuracy of the information provided? Congress and the American people have a right
to know.
In April 2022, you testified to Senator
Hagerty that the Hunter Biden investigation was insulated from political
interference because it was assigned to a Trump-appointed holdover in the Delaware
U.S. attorney’s office. However, that
could be misleading because without special counsel authority he could need the
permission of another U.S. Attorney’s office in certain circumstances to bring
charges outside of the District of Delaware. I’d like clarification from you
with respect to these concerns.
Does the Delaware U.S. Attorney lack
independent charging authority over certain criminal allegations against the
President’s son outside of the District of Delaware?
If you provided the Delaware U.S. Attorney
with Special Counsel authority, isn’t it true that he wouldn’t need the
permission of another U.S. Attorney to bring charges?
Has the Delaware U.S. Attorney sought the
permission of another U.S. Attorney’s Office, such as in the District of Columbia
or in California, to bring charges? If so, was it denied?
If the Delaware U.S. Attorney must seek
permission from a Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney to bring charges, the Hunter
Biden criminal investigation isn’t insulated from political interference as
you’ve publicly proclaimed.
If the Justice Department received information that foreign persons had
evidence of improper or unlawful financial payments paid to elected officials
and other politically exposed persons and those payments may have influenced
policy decisions, would that pose a national security concern and demand a full
investigation?
You told this committee that “the Executive Branch cannot simply decide,
based on a policy disagreement, that it will not enforce a law at all.” Then you released a December 16, 2022 memo
instructing prosecutors to disregard the law that established a sentencing
difference between cocaine and cocaine base. Your decision not to enforce the
law ended Congressional discussions to change the law.
If DOJ proclaims that it will ignore the law by declining to prosecute a
law that grew out of bipartisan compromise forged in this committee, it’s hard
to see how members would trust that DOJ would follow any further bipartisan deal.
Will you withdraw this portion of your memo so that meaningful legislative
discussion can resume, and if not, why?
The Department of Justice charged Nicolás Maduro with narco-terrorism
and drug trafficking offenses and the Office of Foreign Assets Control
sanctioned him. Since then, the Biden Administration has released $3 billion in
frozen Venezuelan assets and authorized Chevron to drill oil in Venezuela.
Does the Department of Justice still consider Nicolás Maduro a fugitive
of U.S. Justice and, if so, do you commit to diligently pursuing his arrest?
I have strong concerns about competition problems in different sectors
of the economy. For example, I’ve conducted oversight and drafted legislation
to address abuses in the pharmaceutical, agriculture and big tech industries. Can you tell us what the antitrust priorities
are for the Justice Department under your leadership? Where is the Justice
Department focusing its resources?
Grassley submitted additional questions in writing, which can be found
HERE.
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