House Oversight Chair James Comer is urging the Justice Department to launch a sweeping investigation into the Biden family in the wake of Hunter Biden being found guilty on three felony gun charges.

“Today’s verdict is a step toward accountability but until the Department of Justice investigates everyone involved in the Bidens’ corrupt influence peddling schemes that generated over $18 million in foreign payments to the Biden family, it will be clear department officials continue to cover for the Big Guy, Joe Biden,” Comer (R-Ky.) said in a statement after the verdict.

Comer’s symbolic DOJ nudge toward a broader Biden investigation comes as House Republicans are months into their own impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, which has largely focused on the business deals of Hunter Biden and other family members.

But they don’t have the votes to impeach Biden, with a swath of GOP members saying they haven’t found the sort of “smoking gun” that proves Joe Biden committed a crime or an impeachable offense.

Comer and other GOP chairs spearheading the inquiry made criminal referrals to the Justice Department earlier this month for Hunter Biden and Jim Biden, the president’s brother. The referrals are non-binding, meaning the DOJ doesn’t have to do anything with them. Republicans are hoping that if Trump wins in November, they can be revisited next year.

Congressional Democrats, plus legal representatives for Hunter and Jim Biden, quickly denounced the referrals, saying Republicans are rehashing already misconstrued closed-door testimony from the two men and were trying to find a landing place for an impeachment inquiry that has stalled.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, in a Washington Post op-ed before the verdict, offered an indirect rebuff of Comer’s accusation of a “cover,” arguing the department makes decisions based on facts rather than last names or party ID.

“The Justice Department makes decisions about criminal investigations based only on the facts and the law. We do not investigate people because of their last name, their political affiliation, the size of their bank account, where they come from or what they look like. We investigate and prosecute violations of federal law — nothing more, nothing less,” he wrote.

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