Hunter Biden’s legal team fired shots Monday morning at two of his chief Republican antagonists.
Attorney Abbe Lowell sent letters asking the Treasury Department’s inspector general to investigate how former Donald Trump loyalists obtained reports of Biden’s alleged “suspicious activity” and seeking a congressional ethics review of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s public attacks against President Joe Biden’s family, reported Politico’s Playbook.
“We write to request the Office of Congressional Ethics initiate a review of and take appropriate action as a result of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA 14th C.D.) suspected violations of House Ethics rules and standards of official conduct,” Lowell wrote. “Representative Greene’s unethical conduct arises from her continuous verbal attacks, defamatory statements, publication of personal photos and data, and promotion of conspiracy theories about and against Robert Hunter Biden. None of these could possibly be deemed to be part of any legitimate legislative activity, as is clear from both the content of her statements and actions, and the forums she uses to spew her often unhinged rhetoric.”
The attorney listed several statements and allegations Greene has made against Biden that were false and easily debunked, and Lowell said her conduct reflected poorly on the House and went far beyond her legislative duties.
“Since her election to Congress in 2020 (and before), Representative Greene has engaged in steady, dogged verbal and defamatory attacks against Mr. Biden, and members of his family,” Lowell wrote. “Her online statements and public appearances are neither legislative drafting, nor oversight, nor real congressional business — they are a spray of shotgun pellets of personal vitriol that are the definition of conduct that does not reflect ‘creditably on the House.’ Her actions are not merely the expression of political views or private ‘free speech’ because she uses her official position to disseminate them and often expresses them in official proceedings.”
“Perhaps Representative Greene is beyond conducting herself properly. Many have so concluded,” Lowell added. “However, the House has a duty to make loud and clear that it does not endorse, condone, or agree with her outrageous, undignified rhetoric and brazen violations of the standards of official conduct that do not reflect creditably on the House of Representatives.”
Lowell also wrote that former Trump White House official Garrett Ziegler did not have a First Amendment defense for obtaining and publishing confidential Treasury Department records regarding the president’s son, and he said those actions may have violated the Bank Secrecy Act.
“We write on behalf of our client … to request that the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Treasury review how Garrett M. Ziegler came to acquire and then retain and publish on his website, Marco Polo USA, illegally obtained Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) from JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A. concerning what are alleged to be financial activities by Mr. Biden,” Lowell wrote. “Ziegler has stated that he worked (conspired) with a person or persons in a bank resulting in his illegally obtaining and then disclosing five SARs, which involve or concern Mr. Biden.”
Lowell wrote that those interactions with a bank employee to obtain protected information violates federal law, and he complained that the reports remain publicly available on the former Trump White House official’s website and had been publicized by the Daily Mail and other media outlets.
“While he may try to cloak himself with the protection of a real journalist, by now, it is clear that Ziegler is nothing other than a possessed and self-described political warrior against the Biden Family,” Lowell wrote. “Even if he would now like to hide in some First Amendment protection, his actions in concert with those to violate the law (e.g., the JP Morgan Chase banker to obtain and publish the SARs) necessarily exclude him from any such claim.”
ALSO IN THE NEWS: ‘A ton of weirdness’ is ripping apart the Republican Party: conservative