The judge nominated by Joe Biden to the federal bench is being hyper-critical of the Biden administration.
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According to Just the News, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes sharply criticized the Department of Justice on Friday for instructing its personnel to ignore subpoenas from the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee while simultaneously pursuing charges against former Trump officials who had ignored congressional subpoenas.
As reported by Politico, Reyes presided over a hearing in a legal dispute between the DOJ and the Judiciary Committee concerning subpoenas issued to Mark Daly and Jack Morgan, two attorneys with the DOJ, to testify in their ongoing impeachment inquiry.
“The Judiciary Committee sued in March to compel testimony from the two attorneys in the DOJ Tax Division, though the DOJ instructed the pair not to comply,” Just the News noted. “Reyes, for her part, appeared to accuse the DOJ of hypocrisy.”
Reyes said during the hearing: “I think it’s quite rich you guys pursue criminal investigations and put people in jail for not showing up” but then order personnel to do the same thing.”
She underscored the difference between the DOJ’s actions in this instance and the prosecution and incarceration of former Trump advisor Peter Navarro, who began serving his four-month sentence for contempt of Congress last month. Navarro refused to comply with a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 Committee.
“There’s a person in jail right now because you all brought a criminal lawsuit against him because he did not appear for a House subpoena,” Reyes said before ordering the Justice Department to try and negotiate a resolution with House Counsel Matthew Berry, Just the News reported.
Reyes was appointed to serve at the D.C. Circuit Court in February 2023.
“To craft effective legislative reforms and to determine whether President Biden has committed an impeachable offense, it must have all the facts,” the Judiciary suit stated. “And to uncover all the facts, the Committee requires testimony from both Mark Daly and Jack Morgan, two current or former Tax Division attorneys who have firsthand knowledge of the irregularities in DOJ’s investigation that appear to have benefited Hunter Biden.”
“For example, as members of the team that recommended what charges to bring against Hunter Biden, Daly and Morgan initially agreed that DOJ should file charges for tax crimes related to 2014 and 2015. But months later, they gave a key presentation and argued just the opposite—that Hunter Biden should not be charged for tax crimes related to those years,” it continued. “DOJ ultimately allowed the statute of limitations for those charges to lapse. Daly and Morgan are thus crucial to the Committee’s investigation.”