Angels' Shohei Ohtani launches longest career home run for 30th of season

Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani capped off his spectacular month of June with a bang. 

Ohtani launched his 30th home run of the season in the sixth inning of LA’s 6-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks Friday night. 

The 493-foot bomb was the longest of Ohtani’s career and the longest of the 2023 MLB season. 

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Ohtani finished the month of June with 15 home runs, 29 RBI’s and a batting average of .394. 

"I hear about all those 500-foot shots from guys in the past, but I don't think I'm ever going to see one," Angels manager Phil Nevin said, according to MLB.com. "Because I [don’t think it’s possible] to see one hit farther than the one I saw.

"The calculations before and now are a little different, but I don't think there's a ball that can be hit farther than that one. Just awesome."

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Ohtani hit his 14th home run during the month of June against the Chicago White Sox Thursday afternoon, setting a franchise record for the most home runs in a single month. 

The ninth-inning, two-run bomb broke the previous franchise record of 13 home runs set by Ohtani, Albert Pujols and Tim Salmon. 

Ohtani is now just the ninth player to hit 30 home runs in a season before by July 1st, and the first since Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles in 2013. 

"He's in a really good place," Nevin said. "It's fun to watch. If we get a couple of guys going around him, we’ve seen Mike [Trout] do that the last two days with five hits. When those guys are going, they can carry us. 

"Obviously, it’s going to take everybody. But when those two guys are playing as well as they are, they can pretty much carry this club."

Despite Ohtani’s moon shot, the Angeles dropped their third game in a row, falling to 44-40 on the season. 

US attorney leading Hunter Biden probe breaks silence on claims investigation was 'influenced by politics'

The U.S. attorney in charge of the Hunter Biden investigation broke his silence Friday following explosive whistleblower allegations that his probe was "influenced by politics" and that he was "hamstrung" when making prosecutorial decisions, while denying Congress the records it requested for its oversight efforts.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan last month requested U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David Weiss turn over materials related to those allegations.

Weiss responded in a letter Friday evening, saying he is "not at liberty to provide the materials you seek." 

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"The whistleblowers’ allegations relate to a criminal investigation that is now being prosecuted in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware," wrote Weiss, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump. "At this juncture, I am required to protect confidential law enforcement information and deliberative communications related to the case." 

"Thus, I will not provide specific information related to the Hunter Biden investigation at this time," Weiss wrote.

The Justice Department last month announced that the president’s son had entered a plea agreement that will likely keep him out of jail. Hunter Biden is set to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax, and to one charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.

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Hunter is expected to make his first court appearance on July 26.

As for the allegations, Weiss said the Justice Department "did not retaliate" against the IRS whistleblowers for making protected disclosures to Congress.

The whistleblowers, including Gary Shapley Jr., who led the IRS portion of the Hunter Biden investigation, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee in May, alleging that Weiss did not have charging authority and was "constantly hamstrung, limited, and marginalized" by DOJ officials as he sought to make prosecutorial decisions. Shapley also alleged Weiss requested special counsel authority but was denied.

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But Weiss refuted those allegations, again telling Jordan that he was "granted ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when and whether to file charges" — a statement Weiss made to the committee in a letter last month.

"I stand by what I wrote and wish to expand on what this means," he said.

Weiss explained that as U.S. attorney for Delaware, his "charging authority is geographically limited" to his "home district."

"If venue for a case lies elsewhere, common Departmental practice is to contact the United States Attorney’s Office for the district in question and determine whether it wants to partner on the case," he wrote. "If not, I may request Special Attorney status from the Attorney General." 

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Weiss stressed that in this case, he has "been assured that, if necessary after the above process," he "would be granted" that authority in "the District of Columbia, the Central District of California, or any other district where charges could be brought in this matter." 

Weiss has said that the investigation is "ongoing." 

Weiss also welcomed the opportunity to discuss with the committee "in more detail, and answer questions related to the whistleblowers’ allegations consistent with the law and Department policy." 

Weiss said the DOJ would "work with the Committee to discuss appropriate timeline and scope."

Weiss’ letter comes after Jordan, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith sent letters to the Justice Department, IRS and Secret Service requesting transcribed interviews with Weiss and more than a dozen officials regarding allegations of politicization and misconduct at their agencies throughout the years-long probe into the president’s son.

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"The federal government is supposed to work for the American people, but whistleblower evidence shows that several federal employees were working overtime to cover up for the Bidens," Comer, Jordan, and Smith said in a joint statement provided to Fox News Digital. "We need to hear from these federal employees and other witnesses about this weaponization of federal law enforcement power."

They added: "Americans are counting on us to ensure actors are held accountable and restore the equal enforcement of the law."

Jordan and the House Judiciary Committee will take the lead on the Justice Department and FBI portion of the investigation; with Comer and the House Oversight Committee taking lead on the Secret Service and Smith at the House Ways and Means Committee taking the lead on the IRS. 

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