Ex-Clinton DOJ Official: DOJ Will Say Hunter Probe Ongoing as ‘Shield’ from Oversight, DOJ Has Reason to Seek ‘Cover’
On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Inside Politics,” former federal prosecutor Shanlon Wu, who worked in the Justice Department during the Clinton administration, stated that the DOJ’s assertion during the Hunter Biden plea hearing that the investigation is ongoing will be “like a complete shield” for the Department of Justice to avoid oversight from Congress and that while one reason for the posture that the investigation is ongoing could be simply because a plea deal hadn’t been reached, but another potential reason is for that “political cover” to duck Congress. “And that will help him when he goes to the Hill to say, oh, I have an ongoing investigation, can’t talk about it.”
Wu said, “So, this particular fact that they kept saying — Weiss keeps saying it’s an ongoing investigation struck me as troubling from the beginning, as a defense counsel — putting on that hat. Now, he could be saying it for a couple of reasons: One, it could be…that they hadn’t done the plea deal yet. So, therefore, it’s still open. Two, he could be saying it for kind of political cover. And that will help him when he goes to the Hill to say, oh, I have an ongoing investigation, can’t talk about it.”
Later, host Dana Bash asked, “What about, Shan, the point that Manu just made, which I think is a really critical one, that the House Republicans may, even though they do have oversight ability — that’s basically basic in the Constitution — but it might be harder for them to get what information they’re striving for if the DOJ says, no, you can’t do this, because we’re investigating first?”
Wu answered, “He’s absolutely right. It’ll be much harder. And that’s going to be like a complete shield for DOJ. If Weiss is testifying, he can just keep going back to the fact that, I told you it’s an open investigation, I’ve said that in court as well. Now, it does give them a little bit more to dig on too, which is to say, what happened in court? Was there pressure on you to give this broader deal and you were trying to put something over on the court? They can ask him about that. He might have a slightly harder time completely shutting that off, but what he should say is, that’s prosecutorial discretion. That’s between us and the defendant.”
https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2023/07/26/ex-prosecutor-wu-doj-will-say-hunter-probe-ongoing-as-shield-from-oversight-doj-has-reason-to-seek-cover/
