AG Merrick Garland Upgrades Hunter Biden Investigator David Weiss To Special Counsel
Attorney General Merrick Garland has granted US Attorney David Weiss’s request to be given Special Counsel status as he investigates various allegations against Hunter Biden.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday he has appointed a special counsel in the Hunter Biden probe, deepening the investigation of the president’s son ahead of the 2024 election.
Garland said he was naming David Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware who has been probing the financial and business dealings of President Joe Biden’s son, as the special counsel. It comes as plea deal talks in Hunter Biden’s case hit an impasse.
The attorney general noted the “extraordinary circumstances” of the matter in making the announcement at the Justice Department.
Garland said that Weiss asked to be appointed to the position and told him that “in his judgment, his investigation has reached a stage at which he should continue his work as a special counsel.”
Appeals court rules against longstanding drug user gun ban cited in Hunter Biden case
Testimony from Hunter Biden associate provides new insight into their business dealings
“Upon considering his request, as well as the extraordinary circumstances relating to this matter, I have concluded it is in the public interest to appoint him as special counsel,” Garland said.Hunter Biden’s attorney did not immediately return messages seeking comment on Friday.
The announcement of a special counsel is a momentous development from the typically cautious Garland and comes amid a pair of sweeping Justice Department probes into former President Donald Trump, who’s Joe Biden’s chief rival in next year’s election.
It also comes as House Republicans are mounting their own investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings. The Republicans are struggling to connect the son’s work to his father, and so far they have not been able to produce evidence to show any wrongdoing.
Justice officials did not explain what prompted the sudden move after years of investigating Hunter Biden, who used drugs and whose personal entanglements have trailed his father’s political career.
Legal proceedings are dramatically shaping the 2024 presidential race in an unprecedented way. Garland has now named special counsels to investigate Trump’s handling of classified records and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as well as Friday’s announcement into Biden’s son.
Garland said he expects Weiss, as special counsel, to work “expeditiously” and in an “even-handed and urgent manner.” He said Weiss will have “all the resources he requests” to probe the matter.
Last month, Hunter Biden’s plea deal over tax evasion and a gun charge collapsed after U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was appointed by Trump, raised multiple concerns about the specifics.
Republicans had derided that agreement as a “sweetheart” deal as they pushed their own probe.
