Sen. Ted Cruz told Newsmax that he was "not shocked" Hunter Biden's plea deal with the Department of Justice suffered major setbacks during trial Wednesday and that was "damning testimony" from two IRS whistleblowers to that set the stage for it.
Joining "Eric Bolling The Balance" hours after the news broke, the Texas Republican argued that the deal was constructed to protect President Joe Biden from inquiries stemming from the prosecution of his son.
Cruz said he believes there has been so much attention on Biden's alleged "culpability in corruption and criminal activity" — likely a reference to the claims described in the recently released FD-1023 form — that the deal sought to offload pressure.
"The Department of Justice and the FBI have stonewalled congressional inquiries almost from the very beginning," Cruz said. "When I asked the DOJ, when I asked the FBI, their consistent response is they refused to answer any serious questions about their investigation."
Earlier in the day, Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to two tax fraud misdemeanors after a deal between him and the DOJ to avoid jail time was met with heavy skepticism from U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika.
Cruz said the plea deal might have gone through if not for the testimony of two IRS agents before the House Oversight Committee on efforts by the DOJ to shut down the Hunter Biden probe.
"But I got to say that if this hearing had been a day after the plea bargain was announced, I think DOJ would have said, 'Yep, we're done here. This resolves everything.' And you might have seen the judge sign off on it," Cruz stated.
"Unfortunately for the folks trying to uncover the misconduct and criminal activity here, the hearing came several weeks after the plea bargain," he added.
"Unfortunately for the folks trying to cover up the misconduct and criminal activity here, the hearing came several weeks after the plea bargain, Cruz said, adding that in between that time the House of Representatives held multiple hearings, including hearings with two IRS whistleblowers who "had damning testimony" about the Department of Justice engaged in obstruction of justice, covering up "testimony about Attorney General Merrick Garland lying to Congress under oath,"
Garland's testimony, Cruz pointed out, was in response to questioning that Cruz himself had asked Garland about.
"And I think, given that DOJ is much more skittish because they realize that the evidence against them is looking really bad, and they were much more reluctant to say no, we're not even going to look into any of these allegations, that's a big part of what caused the blow up today."
A source told CBS News that the deal required Hunter Biden to remain drug-free without committing additional crimes for two years to dismiss his gun count without a guilty plea.
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