Top federal prisons official set to testify on alleged retribution against Biden impeachment witness

The House Judiciary Committee confirmed Thursday that the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons is scheduled to testify later this month about allegations by a witness in the GOP House's President Biden's impeachment inquiry that he was retaliated against to prevent his testimony.

The hearing is set for July 23 and will center on the testimony of bureau Director Colette Peters and the witness' allegation about retaliation related to his testimony about the business dealings of first son Hunter Biden. 

The witness, Jason Galanis, alleges that while in prison he was denied confinement under the CARES Act and was sexually assaulted and harassed by a BOP staff member, according to a committee letter obtained by Just the News.

This follows a request from the committee leading the impeachment inquiry in early March to interview Peters.

The committee asked that Peters be prepared to testify about Galanis’s requests for home confinement and the response to his allegations of sexual assault and harassment.

You can read the Judiciary Committee’s letter below:

Galanis is a former business partner of Hunter Biden who was closely involved in a building the a firm called Burnham alongside another partner of Biden’s, Devon Archer. Galanis and Archer were ultimately caught in a tribal bonds fraud scheme and convicted. Galanis was sentenced to 189 months in prison for his role in the scheme.

Despite Hunter Biden being the vice chairman of the firm, he was never charged alongside his partners and has distanced himself from the firm, Just the News reported.

The Justice Department ultimately denied Galanis’ request for home confinement under the CARES Act rules after the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed Archer to testify in the impeachment inquiry on June 12, 2023, according to the letters, Just the News reported.

After his requests were initially approved by the former Pensacola facility warden and the Residential Reentry Management office in California by June 9, one Justice Department official reportedly communicated her “strongest objection” to the decision, which led to the reversal.

Galanis’ attempt to appeal the ruling were rejected by the new Pensacola facility Warden Sheri Saulsberry.

Another appeal further up the chain resulted in another denial from the federal Bureau of Prisons Central Office. Galanis was notified of the decision the day after the impeachment committees informed the bureau of its intent to interview him, the committee says.

In his testimony to the committee in February, Galanis said that during the time he hoped to receive home confinement he was sexually assaulted by a member of the staff at the Pensacola facility. The individual then proceeded to sexually harass him “for many months thereafter, including lewd comments and attempts to get me alone where there were no cameras,” Galanis alleges.

"I believe that, based on the events I've described, much of which is memorialized in writing, that I've been the victim of a pattern of retribution by the Department of Justice in order to prevent my home confinement, which would have allowed full and free access to congressional investigators,” Galanis said.