Special counsel appointed for Hunter Biden case
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Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel for the federal investigation into Hunter Biden, the president’s son, Friday.
U.S. Attorney David Weiss can now freely investigate and prosecute in the case after making the request to Garland earlier this week, the attorney general said in an announcement.
Garland said that this appointment should reaffirm his commitment “to provide Mr. Weiss all the resources he requests,” while trying to show that Weiss can take appropriate action based on the evidence and without any interference.
Weiss, a U.S. attorney, launched the investigation into Hunter Biden in 2018. Recent testimony by IRS whistleblowers alleged that Weiss struggled to bring charges against Hunter Biden forward while being denied special counsel status last year, as the Deseret News reported.
But Weiss said in a letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., that he did not request special counsel status, and had only discussed a “potential appointment.”
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The White House has declined to comment.
Garland said that Weiss will now have the authority to oversee the investigation and decide where to file the charges without supervision from the Department of Justice.
“I am confident that Mr. Weiss will carry out his responsibility in an even-handed and urgent matter, and in accordance with the highest traditions of this Department,” the attorney general added.
The announcement comes just weeks after a federal judge didn’t accept the plea deal Hunter Biden struck with federal prosecutors, citing the Justice Department’s still-open investigation into the younger Biden. The judge couldn’t come to a resolution in the late July court hearing and gave the defense attorneys and prosecutors 30 days to provide additional briefs to the court by the last week of August.
Under the agreement, Biden pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges related to allegedly fraudulent tax filings and entered a deferment on a felony firearms charge. But he has left the possibility of reversing his plea should the deal dissolve, according to Fox News.
In a court filing, Weiss said the negotiations over the plea deal are at an “impasse,” while nullifying the federal judge’s order asking both parties to provide additional briefs.
In another filing, he said that because of the “impasse,” “the case will not resolve short of a trial.” He also moved to dismiss the tax charges against Hunter Biden so that they can be refiled in Washington, D.C., or California, where Biden allegedly committed the tax-related offenses, instead of being pursued in Delaware.
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Meanwhile, Hunter Biden’s attorneys said they are confident their client “will have resolution and will be moving on with his life successfully,” regardless of the hurdles.
Top conservatives like House Speaker Kevin McCarthy criticized Weiss’ appointment to special counsel, saying he couldn’t be trusted.
“This action by Biden’s DOJ cannot be used to obstruct congressional investigations or whitewash the Biden family corruption,” said McCarthy, R-Calif., in a post on social media. “If Weiss negotiated the sweetheart deal that couldn’t get approved, how can he be trusted as a Special Counsel?”
Meanwhile, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, in a statement said Garland’s latest move “is a part of the Justice Department’s efforts to attempt a Biden family cover up” as his committee found evidence of the Bidens allegedly peddling the family name as a part of “the brand” when doing business with foreign nationals.
He said his committee will continue the investigation into the Biden family’s business dealings to find out whether President Joe Biden also played a role.
