Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed U.S. attorney David Weiss to oversee the Hunter Biden investigation as a special counsel. According to the Washington Free Beacon, Garland shared that Weiss advised him that it appeared to be time in the investigation in which a special counsel should be appointed that is independent from the Department of Justice.
Despite Garland appointing a special counsel at the urging of Republicans, his move appointing Weiss is leaving some skeptical that anything in the handling of his plea deal will change. The Free Beacon reports that Weiss has investigated Biden’s taxes and foreign business dealings since 2018. In June, Weiss “agreed to a plea deal with Biden on two misdemeanor charges for failure to pay taxes.” With the plea deal not working out for Biden, Weiss has declared that “a trial is in order.”
Republicans members of the House Judiciary Committee said in a statement that Weiss “can’t be trusted,” adding that “this is just a new way to whitewash the Biden family’s corruption.” The IRS whistleblowers have also accused Weiss of politicizing the investigation in favor of Hunter.
Weiss reportedly requested to be appointed special counsel. The Free Beacon suggests that Garland may have granted Weiss his request due to Weiss’s recommendation to move jurisdictions regarding Biden’s criminal tax case from Delaware to the Central District of California or the District of Columbia, where he committed the alleged offenses.
Weiss’s attempt to move jurisdictions could also suggest that Hunter may be facing additional charges. Weiss said, “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.”