David Weiss named special counsel in Hunter Biden investigation : NPR
By: Carrie Johnson (NPR)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who has been investigating criminal allegations against President Biden's surviving son, Hunter Biden, has been named a special counsel, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday. Weiss made the request to be special counsel to Garland on Tuesday of this week.
Weiss, a Trump appointee as U.S. attorney who was retained during the Biden administration, has been investigating Hunter Biden since 2019. He reached a tentative plea deal with Hunter Biden, but it collapsed amid scrutiny from a Delaware federal judge.
The order of appointment for Weiss to serve as special counsel authorizes him to "conduct the ongoing investigation described above, as well as any matters that arose from that investigation or may arise."
The order gives Weiss the authority to "prosecute federal crimes in any federal judicial district arising from the investigation of these matters."
Attorney General Garland said Weiss requested the special counsel status earlier this week after determining that "in his judgment, his investigation has reached a stage at which he should continue his work as Special Counsel and he asked to be so appointed."
Weiss will produce a report at the end of his investigation pursuant with special counsel regulations. Garland said he would make that report public consistent with the law and Justice Department policy.
"This doesn't change our understanding of Mr. Wiess' authority over the 5-year investigation into Mr. Biden," Hunter Biden's counsel, Chris Clark, said in a statement. "For years, both Mr. Weiss and the Department have assured us and the public that Mr. Weiss had more authority than a special counsel and full authority to negotiate a resolution of his investigation - which has been done. Whether in Delaware, Washington, D.C. or anywhere else, we expect a fair resolution not infected by politics and we'll do what is necessary on behalf of Mr. Biden to achieve that."
The development comes just weeks after the judge in the Hunter Biden case said she wasn't ready to accept the plea deal struck between the president's son and the Justice Department, and asked both parties to submit additional briefs and return to the court on a future date.
She demanded that the lawyers from both sides make clear that the deal does not convey broad immunity offered to Biden from prosecution on his business dealings. As a result, Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor offenses related to his filing of federal income taxes. He will reverse that plea if a new plea agreement meets Noreika's approval.
But on Friday, the prosecutor in the case said the parties are at an impasse on the plea deal and a trial is in order, according to a court filing.
"Following additional negotiations after the hearing held on July 26, 2023, the parties are at an impasse and are not in agreement on either a plea agreement or a diversion agreement," the Justice Department said in the filing.
It said prosecutors requested Biden's position on Aug. 9 and asked for it by Aug. 11. Biden's lawyers said they needed an extension until Aug. 14, "which the Government declined." Biden had not yet provided his position, the filing said.
"As a result, the Government respectfully requests that the Court vacate its briefing order since there is no longer a plea agreement or diversion agreement for the Court to consider," the filing said.
Earlier this year, Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor offenses related to his filing of federal income taxes. Federal authorities also charged him with a felony firearm offense, for which he agreed to enter a pretrial diversion agreement that allows him to avoid prosecution.
According to David Weiss, the Trump-appointed Delaware U.S. attorney, Biden did not pay federal income taxes for either 2017 or 2018, despite owing more than $100,000 in taxes each year. Additionally, in October 2018 Biden possessed a firearm despite knowing he was an unlawful user of and addicted to a controlled substance, Weiss' office said.
Biden faced a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison on each of the tax charges and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the firearm charge, but Weiss' office noted that actual sentences determined by judges are typically less than the maximums. A source familiar with the deal said the Justice Department had agreed to recommend probation on the tax charges but a judge will make the ultimate decision.
Republicans have said the plea deal struck was an example of unfair treatment for Biden soon after former President Donald Trump was arraigned on separate and unrelated federal charges related to his handling of classified documents. Trump was separately charged for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
A Trump spokesperson said in a statement: "If this special counsel is truly independent — even though he failed to bring proper charges after a four year investigation and he appears to be trying to move the case to a more Democrat-friendly venue — he will quickly conclude that Joe Biden, his troubled son Hunter, and their enablers, including the media, which colluded with the 51 intelligence officials who knowingly misled the public about Hunter's laptop, should face the required consequences."
Responding to the appointment of the special counsel, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who chairs the House Oversight Committee, which is investigating the younger Biden, said: "Let's be clear what today's move is really about. The Biden Justice Department is trying to stonewall congressional oversight as we have presented evidence to the American people about the Biden family's corruption."
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Fox News is going hog wild over this news.
I dont think the DOJ should have done it at this time.
If the special counsel finds something incriminating the right will say "we told you so" , and if the special counsel finds nothing the right will say "the fix was in" and the special counsel is corrupt.
Take that to the bank.
Why not appoint Weiss?
He already screwed over the US taxpayer once to try and get Hunter a sweet heart plea bargain that only benefitted Hunter. He let the most serious of the tax evasion charges go unpunished by allowing the Statute of Limitations to expire.
No reason to trust him or Garland.
You are correct the fix is in for the Democrats.
Expect to hear from Weiss sometime around 2027 on any findings (that he and Garland are willing to release) with how badly the investigation will be slow walked.
Better get Weiss face ready for a milk cartoon missing Special Counsel editions. They can do a twofer with Hur.
Why dont you go insult David Weiss to his face? Maybe he would respond to you.
You almost have to give Obama or whoever's pulling the strings at the White house credit. Such a blatantly corrupt move to bury the scandal as it's being exposed. It's something Nixon would have done if he could have gotten away with it. Just taking complete advantage of having a press that will carry water for them.
Garland appoints as "special prosecutor" the same guy who's been protecting Hunter Biden. The guy who intentionally let the Statute of Limitations run out to avoid charging him with tax evasion on his 2014 Burisma income. The guy who oversaw the plot to effectively sneak Hunter a pardon for all federal crimes into the unprecedented plea agreement until the Judge blew it up. He's already amply demonstrated he'll play ball for the Bidens. The IRS whistleblowers destroyed the plan to protect Hunter via the ridiculous plea agreement/pardon, this is the next best thing.
Besides assuring the investigation protects the Bidens, this thwarts the House Committee just as it was turning the screws on the Bidens and making them look terrible. Now Weiss can't be forced to testify before the committee because of his ongoing "investigation." And, of course, he can slow walk the investigation through the election, without ever doing anything.
It's a move out of House of Cards or some other pulp Hollywood production..
The DOJ's own regulations call for the special prosecutor to be outside the DOJ (like Mueller) because it's the DOJ's conflict of interest that requires a special prosecutor in the first place. Yet Garland appoints from within.
Not even trying to hide the intent.
David Weiss asked for special counsel status in this case.
Y'all going to need one of these, better start digging before the ground freezes:
You’ll need it more.
It’ll take a deep, deep hole to bury all the Biden grift. You’re off to a great start though with a special prosecutor that has a proven soft spot for the Biden’s.
See 3.0 above.
Already read it and it all sounds like the 6th force of nature a.k.a. Unhinged Partisan Imagination.
As the “it’s all Russian disinformation” crowd pivots…
Stop projecting your expertise. It’s unseemly.
Not a phrase I have ever used, I do not have the requisite clearance to make an educated statement either way. None of us do.
Happy now?
No, appointing an internal Special Counsel that already has been proven to be in the tank for Hunter; that slow walked an investigation for four damn years.
Might as well have appointed Hunter. There is a chance he will be stupid and drug addled enough to out both himself and his family.
Your biased comments show why Garland made a mistake. There will be no pleasing the right about this matter, so why even start down that path.
But he’s also,
I mean, you’re never going to get a perfect guarantee of outcome based on who is doing the investigating. You may not like the deal that was offered, but he did charge him with something. If he’s so “in the tank,” why would he charge him with anything? It makes no sense. He could have just said he found insufficient evidence of any crime.
This guy reduced felonies to misdemeanors for the Biden’s. A deal the judge couldn’t stomach.
Myself, the only guarantees I want is that justice gets served. Based on past actions, I don’t see Weiss being the guy to do that.
Weiss is a "blue slip" appointment, both democrat senators from Delaware suggested to Trump to appoint him and all Trump did was agree, so he is not really a "Trump nominee" as he is a democrat nominee.
To create that talking point.
e could have just said he found insufficient evidence of any crime
But the irrefutable evidence is now public. He lied on gun application, had his sister in law/girlfriend ditch the gun near a school and then tried to blame it on Hispanics. Not to mention his tax crimes.
Kept on by Brandon the Human Fuck Up Machine. So you have not point.
As for the rest of the BS. Weiss is a Brandon shill. His actions proved it. Garland just rigged the outcome. See you around 2027 for the proof.
So, you think he’s clever enough to anticipate creating a talking point in his favor, but not clever enough to predict that his plea bargain wouldn’t be accepted.
This is how conspiracist thinking works. Logic is ignored in favor of twisting everything to fit the conspiracy narrative.
See 6.1.8. You have the same issue. You dismiss the appointment because it conflicts with the conspiracy narrative. But if Obama or Biden had appointed him, I’m sure you would find that to be relevant to the bias you assume in him.
On the other hand, somehow Biden keeping him in his current position (a choice new presidents rarely consider) is somehow significant. Your thought process here is just not logical.
It was accepted by Biden. But, yes, when they agreed to the plea they didn't predict the whistleblowers would testify publicly a week before the hearing and make it untenable for the DOJ to go forward with the agreement as written.
The alternative is that the Weiss is so incompetent that his team didn't understand the terms of the agreement they negotiated and were almost bamboozled into an accepting an agreement they didn't understand. That doesn't help your argument.
g to fit the conspiracy narrative
Right, right. The plea agreement, the terms of which the DOJ is admitted were unprecedented, is a conspiracy. The Whistleblowers testimony is a conspiracy. The fact that Weiss let the SOL expire on the most serious tax charge for no reason is a conspiracy.
The objections to Weiss are grounded on his conduct. Those are never disputed. Somehow the logical fallacy that since Trump originally appointed Weiss (who was only one of two Trump ADA's Biden retained) it must mean he's doing a good job is the only "fact" that matters.
Same issue. Same contradiction you can’t resolve. He - genius like - manipulates talking points, but is simultaneously incompetent. He can’t be both.
He - genius like - manipulates talking points
You think it takes a genius to understand why a guilty plea to misdemeanors and a slap on the wrist with no jail time is a better political result for Biden/DOJ than a complete whitewash?
He can’t be both
Good thing I don't claim that. He's either knows what's he doing (giving Biden preferential treatment) or he's incredibly incompetent.
.
.
You have repeatedly claimed both.