{"id":582579,"date":"2023-07-13T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/indictment-inflames-doj-politicization-debate\/"},"modified":"2023-07-13T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T10:00:00","slug":"indictment-inflames-doj-politicization-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/indictment-inflames-doj-politicization-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"#Indictment inflames DOJ politicization debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/illo-lee-gop_getty-gn-stock.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The indictment of a\u00a0think tank leader charged\u00a0with acting as an unregistered agent of China has inflamed an already heated debate over the Department of Justice (DOJ), with Republicans rallying around Gal Luft and arguing the charges against him are further evidence of politicization.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Luft, co-director of the\u00a0Maryland-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, is accused of recruiting and paying an unnamed former high-ranking U.S. government official on behalf of principals based in China in 2016 without registering as a foreign agent, as is required by U.S. law. He also faces arms trafficking and sanctions violations for trying to broker illicit arms deals.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>But just a week prior, Luft claimed in a video first\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/07\/05\/missing-biden-corruption-case-witness-dr-gal-luft-details-allegations-against-presidents-family-in-extraordinary-video\/\">published by the New York Post<\/a> that he was arrested to prevent him from testifying before the House Oversight Committee on shady Biden family business dealings. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He also claims he shared allegations against the Biden family with FBI and DOJ officials during a March 2019 meeting, which he said they covered up.\u00a0That made him \u201cpatient zero of the Biden family investigation,\u201d he said in the video. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Rep.\u00a0James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the Oversight and Accountability Committee,\u00a0called Luft a \u201cvery credible witness on Biden family corruption\u201d\u00a0in\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RepJamesComer\/status\/1677414170411560962\">a tweet last week<\/a>. Comer and other Republicans have heralded Luft as a whistleblower in the\u00a0Hunter Biden\u00a0laptop probe.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, Comer requested that FBI Director Christopher Wray provide the Oversight Committee with an unredacted copy of the FBI\u2019s report after allegedly meeting with Luft in March 2019, when Luft supposedly shared his allegations. The ask followed a House Judiciary Committee hearing where Wray was grilled on the agency\u2019s purported politicization.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be clear, the Committee takes no position regarding the federal charges against Luft,\u201d Comer wrote in a letter to Wray. \u201cInstead, the Committee requests narrowly tailored information he allegedly provided the DOJ and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in March 2019 regarding his interactions with the Chinese company, CEFC.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For some Republicans, the indictment has lent new credence to claims from within the party that the Biden administration has turned the DOJ into a weapon and pointed it at the political right \u2014 especially surrounding a purported double standard between conservatives and the Bidens.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>The president\u2019s son is at the heart of GOP complaints. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Last month, Hunter Biden took a plea deal with DOJ prosecutors, agreeing to plead guilty to misdemeanors for failing to pay income taxes in 2017 and 2018. He also said he would enter a pretrial diversion program for possessing a firearm while being an unlawful user or addicted to a controlled substance. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In response to the deal, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told reporters it perpetuates the perception of a \u201ctwo-tier system\u201d of justice in America. Other top Republicans, including Comer and Senate Republican Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) made similar remarks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cIf you are the president\u2019s leading political opponent, the DOJ tries to literally put you in jail and give you prison time. But if you are the president\u2019s son, you get a sweetheart deal,\u201d McCarthy said, referring to former President Trump, who faces a slew of legal woes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Trump called the younger Biden\u2019s plea deal a \u201cmere traffic ticket.\u201d The former president faces New York charges alleging he falsified business records and federal charges alleging he violated the Espionage Act and obstructed justice in taking classified records from his presidency and not returning them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When FBI searched Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida last year in relation to the classified documents probe, Republicans threatened to \u201cdefund\u201d the agency, accusing it of unfairly targeting the former president for political reasons. \u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Those threats reemerged Wednesday at a GOP-led House Judiciary hearing, during which Wray faced relentless questioning from Republican members over his leadership of the investigative agency.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) accused the FBI of acting as a \u201cpolitical tool of the Biden administration,\u201d pointing to the Mar-a-Lago search as proof of \u201cthe homes of conservative political opponents being raided.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Leaders of the House Judiciary, Oversight and Accountability, and Ways and Means committees have opened a joint investigation into the federal Hunter Biden case.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>The Ways and Means Committee, led by Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), released a tran<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">script<\/a> from an IRS whistleblower alleging the DOJ slow-walked its investigation into the younger Biden days after his DOJ deal was made public. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Biden attorney Abbe Lowell wrote in a 10-page letter to Smith that ever since the GOP assumed a majority in the House in 2023, its leaders and committees ignored protocol to feed their \u201cobsession with attacking the Biden family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Jordan\u2019s domain included Wray\u2019s testimony before the Judiciary Committee. The Ohio Republican has also asked the Justice Department to turn over information about special counsel\u00a0Jack Smith\u2019s\u00a0investigation into Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr6_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>And Comer\u2019s probe is tied to Luft, the indicted think tank leader. A dual citizen of the U.S. and Israel, Luft was arrested Feb. 17 in Cyprus but fled after being released on bail and remains a fugitive, the Justice Department said in a press release. His indictment was unsealed Monday. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe timing is always coincidental, according to the Democrats at the Department of Justice,\u201d Comer <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/video\/6330958143112\">told Fox News<\/a> host\u00a0Laura Ingraham Monday night. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In light of the charges against Luft, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee asked the GOP to turn over information detailing its interactions with him. Luft has played a key role in Comer\u2019s probe of Biden family business dealings and whether Biden and his son, Hunter, accepted a bribe. \u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr7_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWe are concerned that an official committee of the House of Representatives has been manipulated by an apparent con man who, while a fugitive from justice, attempted to fortify his defense by laundering unfounded and potentially false allegations through Congress,\u201d ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.)\u00a0wrote in a letter alongside Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Those allegations \u2014 and Luft\u2019s indictment \u2014 were notably not mentioned during the House Judiciary Committee hearing, where lawmakers asked questions of the FBI director for nearly six hours. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>House Republicans have given no indication they\u2019re weakening their focus on the Justice Department\u2019s operations, calling on Democrats Wednesday to join in the fight.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope (Democrats) will work with us in the appropriations process to stop the weaponization of the government against the American people and in this double standard that exists now in our justice system,\u201d Jordan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2023 Nexstar <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Media<\/a> Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/regulation\/court-battles\/4094272-indictment-of-think-tank-leader-inflames-doj-politicization-debate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The indictment of a\u00a0think tank leader charged\u00a0with acting as an unregistered agent of China has inflamed an already heated debate over the Department of Justice (DOJ), with Republicans rallying around Gal Luft and arguing the charges against him are further evidence of politicization.\u00a0 Luft, co-director of the\u00a0Maryland-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, is&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":582580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/07\/illo-lee-gop_getty-gn-stock.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[70903,73798,70610,74608,79762,144458,70867,144459,124783,138358,70514,134351,71525,115],"class_list":["post-582579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-christopher-wray","tag-defense","tag-finance","tag-house-judiciary-committee","tag-house-oversight-committee","tag-house-ways-and-means-committee","tag-hunter-biden","tag-hunter-biden-investigation","tag-international","tag-james-comer","tag-justice-department","tag-morning-report","tag-national-security","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}