House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) today issued six subpoenas to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Secret Service after DHS employees blocked the Secret Service from sending information to Congress regarding the Justice Department’s misconduct in the Hunter Biden criminal investigation. Chairman Comer’s subpoenas compel DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to provide all documents and communications regarding the Biden transition team being tipped off about the planned Hunter Biden interview in December 2020; all documents and communications related to Congress’s request; and depositions with DHS and Secret Service employees involved with providing the response to Congress.
“The Department of Justice initiated the Biden family coverup and now DHS under the leadership of Secretary Mayorkas is complicit in it. Investigators were never able to interview Hunter Biden during the criminal investigation because Secret Service headquarters and the Biden transition team were tipped off about the planned interview. This is just one of many examples of the misconduct and politicization during the Department of Justice’s investigation. The Oversight Committee – along with the Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees – is seeking interviews with key witnesses, including employees at the Secret Service. The Department of Homeland Security is obstructing our investigation by muzzling the Secret Service from providing a response to Congress. The American people deserve transparency, not obstruction. House Republicans will hold the Biden Administration accountable for running interference for the Biden family’s corruption and criminal activity,” said Chairman Comer.
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley’s sworn testimony reveals that FBI and IRS investigators sought to interview Hunter Biden on December 8, 2020, without giving notice that the interview would occur. However, on December 7, 2020, FBI headquarters tipped off Secret Service headquarters and the Biden transition team about the planned actions the following day. This account was confirmed to the Oversight Committee during a transcribed interview with a former FBI Supervisory Special Agent who accompanied the IRS whistleblower during the attempt to interview Hunter Biden. Following these actions by FBI and the Secret Service, the interview of Hunter Biden did not occur.
In June 2023, Chairman Comer – along with Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) – wrote to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle requesting the agency make all Secret Service employees who received the December 7, 2020 tip-off from FBI and all Secret Service employees who may have passed this information along to the Biden family or presidential transition team available for transcribed interviews. The Secret Service sought to provide a more substantive response to the three congressional committees, but DHS blocked the agency from providing it.
The letters and subpoenas can be found below:
- Letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
- Subpoenas issued to Secretary Mayorkas; K. Shiek Pal, Director of Oversight, Office of Legislative Affairs, Department of Homeland Security; Stephen Jonas, Senior Advisor to the General Counsel, Department of Homeland Security; and Zephranie Buetow, Assistant Secretary, Office of Legislative Affairs, Department of Homeland Security
- Letter to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle
- Deposition subpoenas to Vincent Tutoni, Assistant Director, Office of Intergovernmental and Legislative Affairs, U.S. Secret Service; and David McKeown, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Congressional Affairs Program, U.S. Secret Service
