Republicans seek probe of Philly US attorney for alleged retaliation against Hunter Biden prosecutor
WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans are asking Justice Department watchdog Michael Horowitz to investigate Philadelphia US Attorney Jacqueline Romero after The Post reported in February on claims she retaliated against an attorney in her office who accepted a temporary detail to investigate and prosecute first son Hunter Biden.
Romero, nominated to her post by President Biden, allegedly discouraged assistant US attorney Derek Hines, 38, from accepting the assignment in the nearby office of Delaware US Attorney David Weiss and revoked Hines’ badge access to his Philadelphia office when he took the position last year, three sources told The Post — actions former federal prosecutors called rare if not unprecedented.
“We write requesting you investigate whether Jacqueline Romero, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, engaged in misconduct and politically motivated retaliation,” Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.), whose congressional district overlaps with Romero’s jurisdiction, and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote this week to Horowitz.
“According to alarming reports, Ms. Romero retaliated against [Hines] for that attorney’s work on the Hunter Biden investigation,” Smucker and Cotton wrote.
“After [Hines] was temporarily detailed to the Hunter Biden investigation, and even though [he] remained an employee of the Philadelphia US Attorney’s Office, Ms. Romero revoked [his] office access. Past precedent shows that other detailed AUSAs did not lose office access,” the Republicans wrote.
“Ms. Romero also denied the AUSA’s request to maintain a portion of their local docket. Historically, it is common practice for prosecutors detailed from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to continue work on their local cases.
“It has been publicly reported that Ms. Romero told [Hines] that she objected to their assignment because of her relationship with the Biden family, and because of Beau Biden’s past employment in the Philadelphia US Attorney’s Office,” Smucker and Cotton went on. “Ms. Romero has a long history of donating to President Biden’s campaigns, as well as numerous other Democrat candidates since 2007.
“Federal law and regulations prohibit politically motivated retaliation. For example, the Hatch Act expressly prohibits covered federal employees, such as Ms. Romero, from engaging in political activities in their official capacity. Such laws and regulations are intended to maintain a politically neutral workplace. This is especially important for a US Attorney, whom the public relies upon to be a nonpartisan law enforcement official.”
Cotton and Smucker asked Horowitz to determine whether Hines was indeed barred from the Philadelphia office in retaliation and whether Romero, who allegedly has sought a federal judicial nomination from Biden, “tried to “leverage her relationship with the Biden family to dissuade” Hines from accepting the detail.
It’s possible that Horowitz, who is widely respected by members of both political parties for his hard-charging internal investigations, already is looking into the allegations. His office declined to comment Thursday.
The Post’s sources spoke out about Romero’s alleged retaliation in the hopes of attracting the interest of the House impeachment inquiry that’s investigating the president for alleged corruption linked to his relatives’ foreign dealings as well as an alleged Justice Department coverup of wrongdoing.
Hines likely would be truthful and implicate Romero if contacted by Horowitz or congressional investigators, the sources said.
Republican leaders of the impeachment inquiry have not publicly pursued the alleged retaliation, however, with Hines helping to lead active prosecutions of the first son.
The GOP letter to Horowitz came one week after Hunter Biden, 54, was convicted of three gun-related felonies in Delaware — with Hines as one of the top prosecutors on the case.
President Biden’s son faces another trial, again with Hines in a prominent role, beginning on Sept. 5 in Los Angeles for allegedly failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019 on income from foreign business ventures in which he frequently involved his father.
Hunter Biden walked away from a probation-only plea deal last July over demands for comprehensive immunity for past wrongdoing, including alleged violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which could implicate his the president.
Joe Biden has repeatedly denied interacting with his son and brother James Biden’s foreign partners, but evidence indicates he met with their patrons from two Chinese-government linked ventures and others from Mexico, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine, including during his vice presidency when he controlled US policy toward those countries.
Hines joined the case last year following whistleblower allegations of a sweeping coverup to shield the Biden family.
IRS agents Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler alleged that the Justice Department offered preferential treatment to the Bidens, including tipping them off to a planned search, blocking the gathering of geolocation data and allowing for the expiration of statutes of limitation on some years of tax fraud.
Shapley and Ziegler also accused Attorney General Merrick Garland of misleading Congress about the independence of Weiss to bring charges in the case and said Justice Department figures blocked the pursuit of evidence pointing to Joe Biden’s role in foreign ventures, even when messages directly referenced the elder Biden.
Romero, whose office overlooks Independence Hall in downtown Philadelphia, is a controversial leader of the local US attorney’s office and is perceived by some subordinates as driven by progressive political convictions.
Data show prosecutions plunged in fiscal 2022, the period when Romero took charge — dropping to just 326 new cases from 413 in 2021 and 669 in pre-pandemic 2019. The Philadelphia US Attorney’s office’s number of new cases increased to 412 in fiscal 2023.
A spokesperson for Romero did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
