Judge berates Justice Department for defying House GOP subpoenas tied to Biden impeachment inquiry

WASHINGTON — A federal judge berated the Justice Department on Friday for instructing two of its employees not to appear for depositions as part of a Republican-led impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.

“The rules apply to you all too,” U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes told Justice Department lawyers during a hearing to discuss the DOJ tax attorneys who defied congressional subpoenas.

The House Judiciary Committee sued the two attorneys last month in an effort to compel their testimony in the panel’s investigation into Hunter Biden. The lawsuit alleged that Mark Daly and Jack Morgan, both in the Justice Department’s tax division, refused to comply with subpoenas in the committee’s probe into whether the president’s son received “special treatment” from the Justice Department and whether Biden abused presidential power to “impede, obstruct, or otherwise influence” investigations into his son.

Daly and Morgan were subpoenaed twice. They were most recently scheduled to testify on March 1 but did not appear.

On Friday, Reyes drew attention to an earlier effort by the Justice Department to bring a criminal case against a defendant for not responding to a congressional subpoena, leading to a prison sentence.

She appeared to be referring to former Donald Trump adviser Peter Navarro, who reported to a federal prison last month to begin serving a four-month sentence. He was convicted on contempt of Congress charges for failing to comply with a subpoena from the House January 6 committee.

Friday’s hearing was the first time lawyers for the Justice Department and the House Judiciary Committee appeared in court after last month's lawsuit.

“I think the reason we’re all here is because you’re annoyed, probably appropriately so,