More than a DOZEN whistleblowers came forward on Hunter, Grassley reveals while ... trends now

Sen. Charles Grassley said at a hearing with Attorney General Merrick Garland Wednesday that more than a dozen 'whistleblowers' have provided 'potentially criminal' information about Hunter Biden to the FBI.

He told Garland that the information demanded the Justice Department probe the information – following reports over a matter of months that the president's son was subject to a federal probe involving tax matters and a potentially false statement on a form for a gun purchase. 

It was one of multiple efforts at the oversight hearing to try to get Garland to respond to allegations of 'corruption' that extend beyond the president's son. 

'Recent lawfully protected whistleblower disclosures to my office indicate that the Justice Department and FBI had at one time over a dozen sources that provided potentially criminal information relating to Hunter Biden,' said Grassley, who has a long record of dealing with whistleblowers in the Senate.

It came during a tense hearing where Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) blasted Garland for the failure to arrest abortion rights protesters outside the homes of Supreme Court justices. 

'The alleged volume and similarity of information would demand that the Justice Department investigate the truth and accuracy of the information,' he said, reading from a prepared statement with questions for the AG.

'Accordingly, what steps has the Justice Department taken to determine the truth and accuracy of the information provided?” he asked Garland. 'Congress and the American people have a right to know,' he intoned.

Grassley and other panel members are aware that Garland can't comment in detail on ongoing investigations, but used the hearing to try to get public commitments nonetheless. 

'I have pledged not to interfere with that investigation,' Garland told Grassley, 89, who was reelected in November to an 8th term.