Three prominent House Republicans have asked the Justice Department to prosecute Joe Biden’s son and brother, alleging that both lied to Congress.

House Republicans sent criminal referrals for Hunter and Jim Biden to the Justice Department on Wednesday — a high profile step that stems from their largely stagnated Joe Biden impeachment attempt.

James Comer, Oversight Chairman (R. Ky.), Jim Jordan, Judiciary Committee Chair (R. Ohio), and Jason Smith Ways and Means chair (R. Missouri). They sent a letter to Merrick Garland, the Attorney General and Special Counsel David Weiss claiming that the President’s brother and son made false statements before Congress. The DOJ was urged to bring charges. Hunter Biden was also accused of perjury.

The letter from the three Republicans stated that “Hunter Biden, and James Biden, made false statements to both the Oversight Committee as well as the Judiciary Committee regarding key aspects of impeachment investigation.”

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Abbe Lowell’s, Hunter Biden’s, attorney called the criminal referrals “a desperate attempt by Republicans” to distort Hunter’s testimony in order to distract their failed impeachment investigation and interfere with the trial. Paul Fishman’s, Jim Biden’s, attorney called the move “baseless and partisan action,” and “a transparent and cynical effort to distract and retaliate against Donald Trump’s criminal conviction”.

Jim Biden has “testimony earlier this year” and “has always maintained that Joe Biden had no involvement in his dealings”, he said.

Speaker Mike Johnson demanded quick action in response to the referrals. He said, “If the Attorney-General wishes to demonstrate that he isn’t running a double-tiered justice system and targeting the President’s political enemies, he would open criminal investigations against James and Hunter Biden… and he would announce it immediately.”

Johnson’s decision, to single out Garland, comes at a time when House Republicans are preparing to vote on contempt next week for the Attorney General’s refusal to turn over recordings of Robert Hur’s Joe Biden interview. The votes are not yet certain, as several members have publicly expressed their uncertainty or hope that the two sides will reach a compromise and end the standoff.

The DOJ is not bound by the criminal referrals made on Wednesday, so they aren’t required to take any action despite Johnson’s call for immediate action. House Republicans have emphasized that these types of initiatives are the best way to focus their months-long investigation, which has focused primarily on Joe Biden’s relatives and their business dealings.

Even though Republicans unanimously formalized their inquiry in late 2013, it has been a long time since the idea of impeaching Joe Biden was considered feasible. This is because some House Republicans have said that they did not find clear evidence to support the claim that Biden committed an offense or crime which would warrant impeachment.

While GOP lawmakers admit that criminal referrals are unlikely to gain traction this year with the DOJ, they see them as a trail of investigative evidence that the former President Donald Trump’s Justice Department may pick up on if he is elected in November.

Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin (top Democrat of the Oversight Committee) said Wednesday that Republicans were “forced” to admit their “spectacular failure and collapse” in the 17-month “investigation,” which he described as “protracted and futile.”

As part of their criminal referral, Republicans accuse Hunter Biden, of lying to Congress, when he claimed during a closed door interview that a infamous WhatsApp message Republicans highlighted had been sent to the incorrect person. Hunter Biden claimed that it was “an indication of how out-of-my mind I was in this moment.”

According to documents obtained from the Ways and Means Committee, House GOP investigators claimed that Hunter Biden lied about accidentally sending an email meant for Raymond Zhao to Henry Zhao who was not related. Republicans claim that Hunter Biden sent the message to Raymond Zhao, his Chinese business partner. He also invoked the presence of his father with him while he was writing the messages. The IRS whistleblower described the message as being sent to Henry Zhao.

Hunter Biden told House investigators that he had sent the message to the wrong recipient, but that his father was unaware of it.

In their letter to Justice Department, Republicans also claimed that Jim Biden had given false testimony regarding not attending a 2017 “meeting” with Hunter Biden Joe Biden Tony Bobulinski. Tony Bobulinski is a former Hunter Biden Associate who has been critical towards the Bidens over the years. He attended a presidential debate in 2020 as a guest for Trump’s campaign.

Hunter Biden told the committee separately that he, Jim Biden and Bobulinski were in a hotel bar where Joe Biden was present. Hunter Biden claimed that the two had spoken about a sick family member of Bobulinski, but denied they met.