I looked up Republican representative Matt Gaetz who since 2017 has represented Florida’s first Congressional district. On his website, he discusses how his queries during a House Judiciary Committee hearing forced a senior Department of Justice official to confirm an ongoing investigation into President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. The article points out that during a regular hearing, an assistant attorney general by the name of Mathew Olsen disclosed that the DOJ was probing the president’s son in relation to his corrupt dealings with corrupt foreign governments (House.gov, 2022). The investigation according to the article originated from a laptop that had previously been dismissed by intelligence agencies and the DOJ as a Russian attempt to influence the 2020 US presidential elections. The article also points out that the official referred to the ongoing investigation multiple times but could not directly link the president to any of the wrongdoing.
Matt Gaetz’s queries and participation in the House Judiciary Committee is an example of his functions as a participant in the check and balance system for the other arms of government. By following up on an issue involving the president’s family and which had been dismissed as planted by Russian intelligence agencies, Matt seeks to compel the DOJ to hold Hunter Biden responsible if and when the evidential threshold establishes his culpability in any of the crimes his involvement is suspected. The United States Constitution established three equal and independent arms of government to ensure a system of checks and balances and prevent abuse of power. The fact that a sitting president’s son is under criminal probe is a testament to the effectiveness of this system. Thus, by compelling the DOJ to disclose and shed light on the investigation, Gaetz was fulfilling his role as a member of the checks and balance system established by the US Constitution.
The confrontation between Matt Gaetz and the DOJ official was a culmination of months of speculation that Hunter Biden was under investigation and that the laptop story was true and not malign Russian propaganda. It was also an indication of the toxic political atmosphere that has cropped up in the US since the 2016 presidential election that saw former president Trump elected. The 2016 election of Trump was largely portrayed in the mainstream media as a successful work of Russian intelligence agencies’ active measures. This was even though there were no irregularities in the polls and people willingly voted for him. The portrayal of the 2016 election as influenced by malign forces and the subsequent investigations created a toxic political atmosphere and suspicion. Thus, when Hunter Biden’s laptop containing evidence of wrongdoing stories emerged before the 2020 election, it was wrongly assumed that Russia was behind it and dismissed. However, verification by media houses in the US and the UK confirmed that the laptop belonged to Hunter leading to the opening of the investigations.
How criminal probes against politicians and their family members in the US are disclosed has been under scrutiny since the 2016 botched disclosure that was largely blamed for costing Hillary Clinton the presidency. This was probably why the DOJ had not shared news of the investigation with the public especially given the fast-approaching midterm elections. However, their secrecy fosters a perception that federal law enforcement agencies are biased against some groups while favoring others. Thus, it becomes a balancing act of what to disclose, when to disclose, and to whom such information will be disclosed. Thus, while Matt Gaetz’s actions during the hearing finally revealed that DOJ was holding Hunter accountable, they unnecessarily put the department on the spot for not appropriately disclosing the investigations.
Reference
House.gov (2022). Congressman Matt Gaetz Forces Senior DOJ Official into Accidentally Confirming “Ongoing Hunter Biden Investigation”. Gaetz.House.Gov. Web.