President Biden’s brother James was secretly recorded by the FBI during a bribery investigation into a Mississippi trial attorney who shelled out $100,000 to his consulting firm in the late 1990s, a report said on Sunday.

Richard Scruggs, the trial attorney, hired James and Sara Biden’s DC consulting firm while seeking to gin up support for tobacco legislation being contemplated by Congress in 1998, the Washington Post reported.

Neither James, 74, nor his brother President Joe Biden, 81, were implicated in any major criminal wrongdoing in the case. But the revelation comes amid an impeachment probe into alleged influence-peddling by the president’s family members.

“I probably wouldn’t have hired him if he wasn’t the senator’s brother,” Scruggs told the Washington Post about why he forked over cash to James Biden’s firm.

“Jim was never untoward about his influence,” he added. “He didn’t brag about it or talk about it. He didn’t have to. He was the man’s brother.”

Scruggs, who was later sent to prison over a separate bribery scheme, had been closing in on a deal to push the tobacco companies to cough up billions of dollars in a lawsuit alleging they withheld information that their products were addictive.

Richard ‘Dickie’ Scruggs served roughly five years in prison. NBC

Seeking some $368 billion, Scruggs needed Congress to waive antitrust provisions as part of a settlement deal. Joe Biden in 1997, initially said, he was “not yet convinced that this settlement is a good deal.”

Despite initially being reluctant, Joe Biden, who sat on the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee as the ranking member, ultimately became one of its most significant backers.

Ultimately, the bill failed to clear Congress. Biden, at the time, cited an intense campaign by the tobacco industry that he claimed swayed Republicans.

Lion Hall

While seeking support from the then-Delaware senator, Scruggs made multiple $10,000 payments to Lion Hall, James and Sara Biden’s consulting firm, over roughly a year, according to the Washington Post.

Scruggs was unsure if James convinced his brother to back the bill, but told The Washington Post, “I hope he did.”

A lawyer for James Biden was adamant that his “work has never involved speaking with or providing access to his brother.” The lawyer has not responded to requests for additional comment from The Post.

Sara and James Biden’s financial machinations have drawn attention from House GOP investigators. AP

Lion Hall has come into focus for Republican congressional investigators looking into whether the president’s brother has used the company to filter money to the rest of the Biden family.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has flagged a $40,000 check marked as a “loan repayment” from James to Joe in 2017.

Comer alleges that the payment was “laundered” money from the Chinese government-linked CEFC. As evidence, Comer points to a series of transactions to the president’s brother’s account.

James Comer and Jim Jordan have been investigating the Biden family’s business dealings. Getty Images

The White House, however, has forcefully rejected that notion and highlighted bank records that indicate the president did indeed make a loan to his brother.

In November House GOP impeachment inquiry subpoenaed both James and Hunter Biden for testimony this month, but both men skipped it. Hunter Biden offered to testify publicly, but Republicans slapped that down, insisting that he appear behind closed doors.

Last week, the GOP-led House voted to formally authorize the impeachment probe into Biden over the alleged dealings.

Republicans have been mulling the possibility of holding Hunter Biden in contempt, which would then go to the Justice Department to decide whether or not to press charges.

The taping

Years after the tobacco bill hubbub, FBI authorities began to investigate Scruggs over an alleged bribery scheme involving supposed plans to funnel $40,000 to a local judge.

During that investigation, agents recorded phone calls, including ones from James Biden, according to the report. At the time, James Biden was reportedly attempting to create a firm with Scruggs partners.

Although James Biden was never implicated in the bribery scheme, Scruggs and some of his partners were ultimately sent to jail.

A lawyer for the president’s brother insisted he was never aware of that scheme and nascent plans for a partnership “never got off the ground.”

President Biden has reportedly been deeply bothered by the attacks on his family. Corbis via Getty Images

Recordings reviewed by the Washington Post showed much of the recorded calls James Biden was on, discussed the potential partnership.

“I told him we had formalized our relationship with you guys,” lawyer Tim Balducci told him during one call.

“I told him about the real Washington presence, that this was not going to be a bulls––, you know, a shingle hung somewhere in the window,” he added. “That this was a real deal, that Sara was coming on, you know, as a named partner, an equity share in the venture, that we were changing the name of the firm to include her.”

“Hunter was going to be involved, and you were going to be involved.”

Scruggs told the Washington Post that he never really intended to be part of that potential venture.

How Scruggs met the Bidens

Scruggs became chummy with Biden’s brother due to his ties with Steve Patterson, an aide to former Sen. John Stennis (D-Miss.), the Washington Post reported.

Stennis was a segregationist who differed dramatically from Biden during his early days in the upper chamber.

The eventual president became friendly with Patterson in the years that followed, as did his brother James. Patterson reportedly connected James and Scruggs during the 1990s.

“Biden wouldn’t have known anybody in Mississippi if not for me. That’s just a fact. I take ownership of that,” Patterson told the outlet. “Biden loved Mississippi.”

The president has insisted he was not ensnared in the financial maneuverings of his family. AP

The Post contacted the White House for comment. Scruggs was not available for comment.

The White House has contended there isn’t sufficient evidence to launch an impeachment probe and amplified several Republicans who have publicly aired their misgivings about the inquiry.

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The post FBI secretly taped James Biden as it probed attorney who paid $100K to his consulting firm appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans clashed with attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday, accusing him and the Justice Department of the “weaponization” of the the department’s work in favor of President Joe Biden ‘s son Hunter.

Garland’s appearance before the House Judiciary Committee was the first in two years and came at an unprecedented moment in the department’s history: He’s overseeing two cases against Donald Trump, the first former president to face criminal charges, and another against the sitting president’s son, Hunter Biden.

Republicans on the committee — led by Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairman — came out of the gate with accusations that the Justice Department is protecting the Biden family, while targeting his opponent, Trump.

“There’s one investigation protecting President Biden. There’s another one attacking President Trump,” Jordan, Republican of Ohio, said in his opening statement. “The Justice Department’s got both sides of the equation covered.”

Garland defended the country’s largest law enforcement agency — more than 115,000 employees — at a time when political and physical threats against agents and their families are on the rise.

“Our job is not to take orders from the president, from Congress, or from anyone else, about who or what to criminally investigate,” the attorney general said.

He added, “I am not the president’s lawyer. I will also add that I am not Congress’s prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people.”

Early in the hearing, Republican Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana asked Garland whether he had talked with anyone at FBI headquarters about the Hunter Biden investigation. The attorney general’s response began with a long pause before he said: “I don’t recollect the answer to that question,” later adding “I don’t believe that I did.”

Garland then said repeatedly that he purposely kept the details of the investigation at arms length, to keep a promise not to interfere.

Democrats sought to focus on other criminal-justice issues, including domestic terrorism, hate crimes and gun violence. Rep. Jerry Nadler, the top Democrat on the committee, decried what he called Republicans’ focus on “long discredited conspiracy theories” about Hunter Biden and a laptop said to have belonged to him.

“That is their goal. They want to divide this country and make our government appear like it’s broken,” Nadler said.

The Democrats labored to undermine what they see as Republican misinformation in their ongoing defense of Trump, who is now the Republican front-runner to challenge Biden in next year’s election. They say Republicans are trying to detract attention from the indicted former president’s legal challenges and turn a negative spotlight on Biden.

Garland’s testimony also comes just over a week after Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., launched an impeachment inquiry into his boss, Biden, with a special focus on the Justice Department’s handling of Hunter Biden’s yearslong case.

The White House has dismissed the impeachment inquiry as baseless and worked to focus the conversation on policy instead. Hunter Biden’s legal team, on the other hand, has gone on the offensive against GOP critics, most recently filing suit against the Internal Revenue Service after two of its agents raised whistleblower claims to Congress about the handling of the investigation.

Republicans contend that the Justice Department — both under Trump and now Biden — has failed to fully probe the allegations against the younger Biden, ranging from his work on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma to his tax filings in California and Washington D.C.

An investigation into Hunter Biden had been run by the U.S. attorney for Delaware, Trump appointee David Weiss, who Garland had kept on to finish the probe and insulate it from claims of political interference. Garland granted Weiss special counsel status last month, giving him broad authority to investigate and report his findings.

Asked by Republican Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina whether he had tried to figure out if Weiss was facing any hurdles in bringing charges against the president’s son, Garland said he had purposely kept his distance to keep a promise not to interfere.

“The way to not interfere was to not investigate an investigation,” Garland said.

Weiss, since 2018, oversees the day-to-day running of the probe and another special counsel, Jack Smith, is in charge of the Trump investigation, though Garland retains final say on both as attorney general.

Last week, Weiss used that new authority to indict Hunter Biden on federal firearms charges, putting the case on track toward a possible trial as the 2024 election looms.

The Republican chairmen of the Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means committees launched an investigation into Weiss’ handling of the case, which was first opened in 2018 after two IRS agents claimed in congressional testimony in May that the Justice Department improperly interfered with their work.

Gary Shapley, a veteran IRS agent assigned to the case, testified to Congress that Weiss said in October 2022 that he was not the “deciding person whether charges are filed” against Hunter Biden. That testimony has been disputed by two FBI agents also in that meeting who told lawmakers that they have no recollection of Weiss saying that.

What others are reading…

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The post GOP lawmakers clash with Attorney General Garland over Hunter Biden investigation | News appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A woman who was expected to testify about an extramarital affair with Texas attorney General Ken Paxton made a sudden appearance Wednesday at his impeachment trial, but never took the stand as the prosecutors abruptly rested their case against the Republican.

The affair is central to the historic proceedings and accusations that Paxton misused his power to help Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, who was under FBI investigation and employed the woman, Laura Olson. One of the 16 articles of impeachment against Paxton alleges that Paul’s hiring of Olson amounted to a bribe.

Olson was called to take the stand Wednesday morning in the Texas Senate and waited outside the chamber. But her testimony was delayed for hours before Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is acting as the trial’s judge, said toward the end of the day that Olson would not testify after all. He provided no further explanation but said both sides had agreed to it.

“She is present but has been deemed unavailable to testify,” Patrick said.

Shortly after the announcement, Rusty Hardin, a lawyer for the bipartisan group of lawmakers prosecuting Paxton’s impeachment said he was resting their case. Paxton attorney Tony Buzbee then moved to end the trial on the grounds of insufficient evidence, but later withdrew the request without a vote shorty before the trial adjourned for the day. It was scheduled to resume Thursday.

Political Cartoons

Paxton, who was suspended from office pending the outcome of the trial, is not required to attend the proceedings. He has not appeared in the Senate since testimony began last week. As the scene played out Wednesday evening, the attorney general posted on social media that he was headed to Maine next week to talk with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson about “the last two weeks in Texas politics.”

“It should be interesting!” Paxton said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Olson also previously worked for Republican state Sen. Donna Campbell, who will have a vote in the trial. That underscores the many entanglements Ken Paxton has in the building as he fights for his political life after years of alleged scandal and criminal charges.

Former staff have testified that Paxton admitted to them that he had an affair. The three-term incumbent, who was reelected last November, has not discussed it publicly.

Olson has not spoken publicly about her relationship with Texas’ top law enforcement officer and his dealings with Paul, who was indicted in June on charges of making false statements to banks. Paul has pleaded not guilty.

Paxton’s former executive aide, Drew Wicker, testified Wednesday, describing Paxton as a friend and saying he met Paul three times, including once to deliver him a manila envelope and another to pick up Paxton’s phone that he had left at Paul’s house.

When Paxton began staying in an Austin hotel in 2020 while his home was being renovated, Wicker said, Paxton would call off his protective detail and have Wicker pick him up and drop him off instead. He said Paxton frequently did things and went places that were not on his schedule, including meetings with Paul, and that he saw Paxton and Olson together at the hotel.

Wicker said the cost for new countertops and cabinetry in Paxton’s kitchen came to about $20,000. He said he grew concerned after the contractor said three times that he would have to “check with Nate.”

Wicker said he told Paxton that he was left with the impression that Paul was involved in the renovations of Paxton’s home.

“It felt like there might be an inappropriate relationship there,” Wicker recalled telling Paxton. He said Paxton said that was not the case.

On cross-examination, Paxton lawyer Buzbee showed Wicker bank statements that Wicker affirmed appeared to show Paxton paying for the renovations to his home. At a June news conference, Buzbee displayed bank records that showed Paxton making that payment to a company run by an associate of Paul one day after the attorney general’s deputies reported him to the FBI.

The FBI investigation of Paxton and Paul’s dealings also scrutinized the renovations, with at least one Austin contractor receiving a grand jury subpoena in 2021 for records related to the work.

Bleiberg reported from Dallas.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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The post Prosecution Rests at Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Impeachment Trial appeared first on Attorney Legal Counsel.