Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz is urging the House to look into impeaching President Biden after an IRS whistleblower on the Hunter Biden probe told Congress that the president's son invoked his father to pressure a Chinese business partner through WhatsApp and claimed the elder Biden was in the room while he was making deals.

Asked at what point the investigation and problems pertaining to Hunter Biden turn into an issue for the president, which could lead to impeachment efforts by Republicans, Cruz said: "It is right now."

"Look, this WhatsApp is direct evidence of Joe Biden abusing his government power to enrich his son, and, assuming 10% for the big guy, to enrich himself," Cruz continued. "Remember, this WhatsApp says ‘we want to know.’ This is not just me, Hunter, just mooching off my dad. . . . Of course the House needs to investigate it, but the stunning thing is what the IRS whistleblower says is [Department of Justice], Merrick Garland prevented an investigation even into this message." l

Garland has denied that there was any interference in the Hunter Biden probe.

Cruz's remarks came during a new episode of the senator's podcast, which is called Verdict with Ted Cruz.

HUNTER BIDEN-LINKED ACCOUNT RECEIVED $5 MILLION DAYS AFTER THREATENING MESSAGES: 'SITTING HERE WITH MY FATHER'

Cruz discussed allegations from an IRS whistleblower released by House Republicans this week, where an investigator on the Hunter Biden probe claimed there had been unprecedented efforts to prevent investigations into Joe Biden during the 2020 campaign and into his presidency.

Whistleblower Gary Shapley Jr. — who oversaw the IRS probe into the president's son — said the IRS had obtained a WhatsApp message dated July 30, 2017, from Hunter Biden to Henry Zhao, CEO of Harvest Fund Management, in which Hunter alleged that he was with his father and named him to put pressure on Zhao to fulfill a commitment.

"And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or the chairman, I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to forever hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction."

"I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father," Hunter Biden reportedly said.

"This WhatsApp directly ties Joe Biden to the millions of dollars coming from communist China," Cruz said. "Now, it is possible Hunter Biden was lying, it's possible Joe Biden wasn't next to him. It's possible Joe Biden was not going to inflict official damage on the Chinese if they didn't pay him and his son millions of dollars. That's possible, but you know what, we don't know if it's true or not. Why? Because, according to the whistleblower, they didn't investigate, and they were prohibited from investigating. They were prevented from even asking the question."

"Let me be clear: This, on the face of it, is obstruction of justice," he said. "And if Merrick Garland issued that order, he is the one blocking the investigation, and I think there's real evidence of Merrick Garland being guilty of obstruction of justice."

Cruz, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has served in the Senate since 2013, said, "If you had a single Democrat who gave a flying flip about the rule of law, we would have a hearing right now with Merrick Garland in front of us, under oath, asking about this WhatsApp," he said. "We would ask to see every document, we would ask to see every email, we'd ask to see every communication between DOJ and the investigators. We would put the IRS whistleblowers on the stand, under oath to testify about it, and we would confront Merrick Garland with that."

KIRBY ARGUES WITH REPORTER ABOUT PURPORTED HUNTER BIDEN TEXT MESSAGE: 'NOT GOING TO COMMENT FURTHER'

"The chances of the Senate Judiciary Committee doing that are zero, because [chairman] Dick Durbin doesn't care," he added. "No Senate Democrat cares, but the House does, so that is the only hope for investigating this."

If the claims made in the WhatsApp message are accurate, they starkly contradict President Biden's repeated insistence that he had no knowledge of son Hunter's business dealings.

Asked Friday by a reporter whether the WhatsApp message undermines the president's claims that he had no knowledge of his son's overseas activities, National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby replied, "No, and I'm not going to comment further on this."

A Hunter Biden attorney said in a statement Friday, "Any verifiable words or actions of my client, in the midst of a horrible addiction, are solely his own and have no connection to anyone in his family."

White House Counsel's Office spokesman Ian Sams said, "As we have said many times before, the President was not in business with his son."

"As we have also said many times before, the Justice Department makes decisions in its criminal investigations independently, and in this case, the White House has not been involved," Sams continued. "As the President has said, he loves his son and is proud of him accepting responsibility for his actions and is proud of what he is doing to rebuild his life."

Yevgeny Prigozhin, self-proclaimed founder and leader of the mercenary Wagner Group, has marched his troops towards Moscow after claiming the Kremlin authorized an attack on his forces – an historic decision for a man who came from such humble beginnings. 

Wagner Group’s origins remained obscured for some time after its founding in 2014 to assist in Crimea, with many believing that Prigozhin at least funded the group if not outright founded it. The group’s leader at the time, Dmitry Utkin, had previously worked as Prigozhin’s head of security. 

But Prigozhin eventually revealed – or at least claimed – that he had indeed created the group, which has continued to serve Russian interests across the globe, operating in Africa, Syria and other areas to help push Russian President Vladimir Putin’s international goals. 

The group came to mainstream prominence with the invasion of Ukraine, where it first tried to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and end the conflict quickly. Putin increasingly relied on the group to maintain the initiative in Ukraine as his forces failed to make the expected gains.

WAGNER GROUP: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT RUSSIAN MERCENARY GROUP IN UKRAINE

Before he was acting as Putin’s butcher in Ukraine, Prigozhin got his start as a hot dog vendor in the flea markets of Lenningrad, according to The New York Times. 

Born June 1, 1961, Prigozhin lived during the height of the Soviet Union. He crossed paths with police multiple times for theft and fraud as a teenager, eventually sentenced to 12 years in prison in 1981. 

After receiving a pardon in 1988 and release in 1990, Prigozhin made a living selling food with his mother and stepfather, eventually pursuing more entrepreneurial efforts after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He opened restaurants and convenience stores that made him incredibly wealthy in the burgeoning Russian Federation. 

Prigozhin’s success drew him close to Putin, who contracted Prigozhin’s Concord Catering to serve food for the Kremlin and Russian military. He allegedly used a significant portion of the proceeds to start the Internet Research Agency, a troll factory known as "the Propaganda Kitchen," according to Radio Free Europe. 

WAGNER GROUP FORCES SAID TO BE ADVANCING TOWARDS MOSCOW AFTER CAPTURING RUSSIAN MILITARY FACILITIES: REPORTS

A 2017 U.S. intelligence report on Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 Presidential Election specifically named Prigozhin’s troll factory as a main player, using "targeted advertisements, intentionally falsified news articles, self-generated content, and social-media platform tools to interact with and attempt to deceive tens of millions of social-media users in the United States." 

His activities landed him on the FBI's Most Wanted list, with the agency offering a $250,000 reward for information leading to his capture. He stands accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States by interfering in the functions of the Federal Election Commission from 2014 to February 2018.

The Wagner Group would prove his most high-profile venture, thanks to its role in the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Prigozhin rolled out a heavy recruitment drive starting in the summer of that year, eventually turning to Russia’s prisons in a Suicide Squad-style agreement to give those who served a pardon if they were to survive six months in Ukraine. 

His forces also made gains at a time when Putin was desperate for wins, such as capturing the town of Soledar. Wagner spent more time at the front lines, giving Prigozhin more points with Putin. Other Putin allies even started to consider starting their own mercenary groups. 

With the increasing reliance on his private forces, Prigozhin appeared to enjoy greater sway at home, but he may have too freely wielded his clout and alienated the Russian military command with whom he needed to collaborate. 

PUTIN VOWS TO DEFEND RUSSIA AGAINST ARMED REBELLION LED BY MERCENARY CHIEF: ‘THEY WILL ANSWER FOR IT’

Russia’s chief of general staff Valery Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ended the prison recruitment scheme and appeared to deprive Wagner of much-needed munitions, prompting numerous angry rants from Prigozhin. 

Prigozhin called Russian military command "clowns" and repeatedly accused them of "treason" for depriving his men of their weapons supplies. 

"If the whole chain (of command) is 100% failed and will only be led by clowns who turn people into meat, then we will not participate in it," Prigozhin said during an interview to celebrate his 62nd birthday.

Prigozhin famously makes heavy use of social media, particularly Russian platform VK, where he posted a number of videos and photos as well as, in the run-up to his march to Moscow this week, various voice clips with rants and claims against the Russian military command. 

"Their blood is still fresh, and now, listen to me, b----," Prigozhin said in a video posted in May as he walked among the bodies of dead soldiers. "These are someone’s fathers and someone’s sons."

"And those [expletive] who don’t give us ammunition will burn in Hell, eating their guts, [expletive]," he continued, aiming his rant at Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, and Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff. "We have a 70% shortage of ammunition. Shoigu, Gerasimov, where is the ammunition? Look at them, b----!"

Prigozhin appeared to have enough on Friday this week as he claimed that the Kremlin had attacked his men, and he initiated a "march for justice" to Moscow so he could resolve his dispute with the military.