Bidding on a work of art by a master impressionist starts at $700,000.

The cost of a painting by a political hack and the president’s son, $500,000.

U.S. Rep. Ken Buck’s confrontation with Attorney General Garland on the need to appoint a special counsel to investigate selling access to power — priceless. 

Asked directly by Buck if he would appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden, the attorney general repeatedly refused to answer.

“For the same reason that I’m not able to respond to questions about investigations of the former president or of anyone else, I’m not able to discuss any investigations pending or otherwise with respect to any citizen of the United States,” Garland said.

Buck didn’t ask if there was an investigation, but asked again if a special counsel would be appointed, which he reminded Garland he could answer. The attorney general refused again, so there’s your answer. 

Buck told Fox News during a break in the hearing that members of Congress were not getting any satisfying answers from the nation’s top cop on numerous questions.

Buck also asked Garland, of the 1.7 million illegal aliens who have crossed the southern U.S. border illegally this year, how many have been prosecuted?

The attorney general said he had no idea what that number might be.

“I don’t think the Attorney General took responsibility for what’s happening. And I think he should have,” Buck said.

Also during the hearing, Garland defended his directive to the FBI to investigate alleged threats from parents against locally elected officials on school boards.

“Parents have been complaining about the education of their children and about school boards since there were such things as school boards and public education,” Garland said, facing a deluge of criticism from Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee who accused him of opening a “snitch line on parents.”

 

“This is totally protected by the First Amendment,” he said. “True threats of violence are not protected by the First Amendment. Those are the things we are worried about here. Those are the only things we are worried about here. We are not investigating peaceful protests or parent involvement in school board meetings. There is no precedent for doing that and we would never do that. We are only concerned about violence and threats of violence against school administrators, teachers, staff.”

We’re not exactly reassured when Garland says the FBI won’t investigate Peaceful Protests™ — a phrase that’s come to mean anarchists burning down cities.

When non-leftists get mad or frustrated with government, they’re called insurrectionists.

And speaking of violent clashes with police to trespass into government buildings, Garland was asked about the occupation last week of the U.S. Interior Department by leftist protesters, and to the complete shock of Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, the attorney general had no clue what they were talking about.