Morgan Griffith and Friends Are Busy Investigating

Editorial comment: MOAN. WAIL. There they go again, the Republicans, using their well paid time to settle partisan scores rather than cleaning up the actual mess, causing disgusting and increasing the chance that the Democrats will get back into control of Congress...I don't really care what was on Hunter Biden's laptop. At least, not as much as I care about, oh let's make it a Top Ten List...

TOP TEN THINGS THIS WEB SITE CARES ABOUT MORE THAN HUNTER BIDEN'S LAPTOP, AS OF TODAY

1. Recognizing possession or use of glyphosate, in any form, as a violent crime

2. Recognizing any kind of spraying anything other than water into the air as a potential violent crime and allowing spraying of chemicals, such as salt, vinegar, or alcohol, to be done only by licensed applicators who have paid a substantial fee for training and licensing and whose services are available only on payment of another substantial fee, each fee to cover all medical expenses incurred by anyone within a mile of the spraying site during the next month, including testing all patients for possible evidence of a connection between the chemical sprayed and the symptom reported

3. Requiring anyone who requires anyone else, even a dog, to be vaccinated against anything, even rabies, to take full financial responsibility for indemnification in the case of any possible complications. (This would allow pet owners to have their own pets vaccinated since they can trust themselves to handle the possible complications, but that's about all, and that's as it should be. If you believe vaccinations work, have all you want. If other people don't, leave them alone!)

4. Requiring all roads maintained by taxpayers to include a 10-foot-wide pedestrian lane, no exceptions

5. Enforcing speed limits on all roads maintained by taxpayers at all times, creating a fund from speeding ticket collections to maintain automated speed monitors, and limiting all motor vehicles to speeds appropriate to roads with pedestrian traffic. (The Commonwealth of Virginia is too scenic for people to buzz through overnight. Not everyone travelling from Abingdon to Washington needs to go through Richmond every time, the way Greyhound has traditionally tried to force them to do, but they should travel in the daytime and stop to trade in at least three towns on the way.)

6. Recognizing introversion as a valuable hereditary physical trait, discrimination against which must be classified as racist and thus as cutting off all government funding or recognition for schools that practice such discrimination or have practiced it and failed to correct for its toxic effects. (Thus, Harvard, whose spox recently admitted using a "personality test" to discriminate against Asian-Americans in favor of African-Americans, must be reclassified as an evil racist institution whose graduates need extensive sensitivity training to keep any jobs in which they might be required either to think or to speak.)

7. Recognizing it as a crime for any person to affect, through unauthorized connection to the Internet, any object purchased and owned by another person in the other person's home. (Thus, if my main computer is not connected to the Internet by me--which it never has been and never will be--for it to be vulnerable to hacks, attacks, "updates," or running unauthorized "svc* programs--which it is--would be a basis for substantial damages claims, and jail time for corporate employees.)

8. Requiring all manufacturers selling machinery in the United States to make that machinery repairable for a minimum of 50 years from the date of purchase. (Last week my Lasko fan died. I asked people in the HVAC field about repairing it. Someone brought me a new fan, not labelled Lasko but otherwise about the same thing. That was nice, and as the temperature rises past the 85-degree mark for the third time this year--this has been an extraordinary summer--I'm enjoying the new fan as I type. But it's not what I really wanted. I did not want my Lasko fan to go to the landfill where it's undoubtedly going, if it's not there already. I hate waste. I wanted to fix my Lasko fan.)

9. Capping the total amount of federal funding available to a district, such that, if a county chooses to limit entrepreneurial ventures like roadside stands and flea markets and advises people who need extra money to apply for welfare, the amount of money allocated for welfare comes directly out of the funds available to that county for roads and schools. (The county should also be penalized if welfare recipients have to move away. We need incentives for local government to reward citizens for being makers rather than takers.)

10. Requiring all residential property to be transferred from bank ownership to individual/family ownership in 30 days, such that, if unable to sell a house for the price the original purchaser failed to pay, the bank may be forced to sell it at a price an interested family can pay, allowing a minimum of $10, and making it very, very easy for property owners to adjust mortgages to current economic conditions

That some of these things would be difficult for Congress to enact into law is the point. I didn't say I expect Mr. Griffith to do all of them. I said they were of more importance to me than Hunter Biden's laptop. I think Hunter Biden is a scag who belongs in a lifetime rehabilitation program, but putting him in one is his parents' problem--they have more money to spend on him than we the taxpayers have.

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July 21, 2023 – Biden and FBI Investigations

Currently, there are multiple inquiries into Hunter Biden and the FBI.

There is a long list of legitimate investigations happening, more so than ever during my tenure in Congress. The House Committees on Judiciary, Oversight and Accountability, and Ways and Means, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Government are all investigating Hunter Biden, the FBI, or both.

This column is not for me to pre-judge the outcome of ongoing investigations whose evidence I may later be required to make significant judgements on. Today, I am explaining the current state of affairs.

It is ultimately Congress’ responsibility to investigate claims of government wrongdoing, and though some Democrats might not want that to happen, we are obliged to do so.

It was announced in 2020 that Delaware U.S. Attorney Weiss was investigating Hunter Biden for tax crimes. The investigation dealt with Hunter Biden’s business dealings with foreign entities.

When Republicans took control of the House in January, the Committee on Oversight and Accountability immediately launched its own investigation into Hunter Biden and whether the Biden family was engaged in influence peddling.

In March, the Committee announced they obtained financial records showing Biden family members receiving money from Chinese Communist Party connected individuals, while Joe Biden was Vice President.

In April, IRS whistleblower Greg Shapley came forward with information about a “failure to mitigate clear conflicts of interest in the ultimate disposition” of the criminal investigation into Hunter, stating that Hunter was receiving preferential treatment. A second IRS whistleblower, Joe Ziegler, came forward to validate Shapley’s claims.

The whistleblowers testified before the House Ways and Means Committee that DOJ officials delayed Weiss’ investigation, allowing the clock to run out on charging Hunter Biden with felonies; shared sensitive information about the investigation with Hunter Biden’s attorneys; and denied investigators the ability to follow evidence that implicated President Joe Biden.

At the House Oversight and Accountability hearing on July 19, IRS whistleblower Greg Shapley testified that “prosecutors instructed investigators not to ask about the “Big Guy” or “Dad” when conducting interviews” and that they were “not allowed to follow up on WhatsApp messages from Hunter Biden…where he suggested he was sitting next to [Joe Biden].”

In June, DOJ announced that Hunter Biden would plead guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses, avoiding jail time. Immediately Chairmen of the House Judiciary Committee, Oversight and Accountability Committee, and Ways and Means Committee opened a joint investigation into how the Justice Department, FBI, Secret Service, and IRS handled the case and whether their investigations were influenced by politics.

On a similar, yet separate note, Republicans have begun probing FBI misconduct in general. Evidence suggests that the FBI and DOJ improperly targeted conservatives after a series of concerning instances.

In a 2021 memo, Attorney General Garland asked the FBI to coordinate with school districts in response to threats related to school boards meetings where conservative parents questioned school policy. The memo likened these parents to domestic terrorists.

Further, an FBI agent out of Richmond connected white nationalist groups to “radical-traditionalist Catholics.” The agent claimed that violent extremists have “sought out and attended traditional Catholic houses of worship” and suggested that the FBI develop informants within the church.

In fairness, FBI Director Wray recently testified before the House Judiciary Committee, stating he was “aghast” when hearing of the memo and had it removed from FBI systems.

Unfortunately, this is not your father’s FBI.

Additionally, a boatload of Biden Administration officials and agencies, including the FBI, have been enjoined from contacting social media companies relating to “the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech posted on social-media platforms.”

U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty stated in part, “Plaintiffs have produced evidence that Defendants did not just use public statements to coerce and/or encourage social-media platforms to suppress free speech, but rather used meetings, emails, phone calls, follow-up meetings, and the power of the government to pressure social-media platforms to change their policies and to suppress free speech.”

This comes after evidence, presented by journalists, that the FBI and other agencies had numerous communications with Twitter immediately prior to the breaking of the Hunter Biden laptop story.

Of course, one must not forget the Russia collusion hoax. Special Counsel Durham recently released a report in which he concluded, among other concerning actions, that FBI investigators relied on “raw, unanalyzed and uncorroborated intelligence,” and repeatedly relied on “confirmation bias,” ignoring or rationalizing away evidence that undercut their premise of a Trump-Russia conspiracy.

More evidence to come. Stay tuned!

If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov.

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