Garland assigns special counsel for Hunter Biden investigation.
‘A trial is in order,’ U.S. attorney David Weiss said in Friday court filing
President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland / Getty Images
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday appointed U.S. attorney David Weiss to serve as special counsel over the investigation into Hunter Biden, the latest twist in a probe marred by allegations of political favoritism.
During a Friday press conference, Garland revealed that Weiss had advised him this week that the investigation ”had reached a stage” where a special counsel should be appointed. This designation provides a measure of independence from the Justice Department. Weiss has been investigating Biden’s taxes and foreign business dealings since 2018, but both he and Garland have faced scrutiny over what Republicans claim is a favorable treatment for the embattled first son.
In June, Weiss agreed to a plea deal with Biden on two misdemeanor charges for failure to pay taxes. However, this plea deal fell apart during a July hearing, leading to an impasse between prosecutors and Biden’s legal team. In a motion filed in federal court on Friday, Weiss stated, “A trial is in order.”
This announcement marks a stunning turnaround for Garland, who had previously resisted Republican calls for a special counsel to handle the politically charged investigation. Republicans remain skeptical of Weiss’s ability to lead an impartial investigation, citing his previous “sweetheart plea deal” with the president’s son.
“David Weiss can’t be trusted, and this is just a new way to whitewash the Biden family’s corruption,” Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee said in a statement.
Two IRS whistleblowers have accused Weiss and the Justice Department of being lenient in the investigation for political reasons. One of the whistleblowers, Gary Shapley, claimed that Weiss initially wanted to charge Hunter Biden with felony tax crimes and had sought special counsel status last year. Republicans have also criticized Weiss for not charging Biden with violating foreign agent laws related to his work in China, Ukraine, and Romania.
“Weiss advised me that in his judgment his investigation had reached a stage at which he should continue his work as a special counsel, and he asked to be so appointed,” Garland said on Friday.
In his motion, Weiss also requested to move Biden’s criminal tax case from Delaware to the Central District of California or to the District of Columbia, where the alleged offenses took place. This request could explain why Garland granted Weiss special counsel status. IRS whistleblower Shapley testified before Congress in June that prosecutors appointed by Joe Biden in California and Washington, D.C., had rejected Weiss’s requests in 2022 to charge the first son in their jurisdictions. Shapley claimed that these moves had prevented Weiss from bringing more severe charges against Hunter Biden.
However, in a July letter to Senate Judiciary ranking member Lindsey Graham, Weiss rejected Shapley’s accusations, stating that he had “never been denied the authority to bring charges in any jurisdiction.”
Shapley’s attorney, Tristan Leavitt, offered a more sinister explanation for Weiss’s appointment, calling it a “strategy to forestall congressional investigations.”
Weiss’s motion indicates that additional charges against Hunter Biden could also be considered. “The government, in the exercise of its prosecutorial discretion, is considering what tax charges to bring in another district and may elect to bring the same charges set forth in the instant information or different ones,” Weiss said in the motion.
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