Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday that David Weiss, the U.S. attorney overseeing the investigation into Hunter Biden, has been appointed special counsel, giving him expanded powers to continue the probe.
A career federal prosecutor, Weiss was appointed by President Donald Trump to become the U.S. attorney in Delaware in 2018 and began investigating Hunter Biden, President Biden’s son, the following year. He was asked to remain on as U.S. attorney under the Biden administration and has continued leading the investigation.
The elevation of Weiss to special counsel “reinforces for the American people the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters,” Garland said in remarks from the Justice Department.
The attorney general said Weiss informed him on Tuesday that his investigation had reached a stage where he believed his work should continue as special counsel, and asked for such a designation. Garland said he concluded it was “in the public interest” to appoint Weiss as special counsel given the “extraordinary circumstances” of the case.
Minutes after Garland announced Weiss would become special counsel, Justice Department lawyers asked the court in Delaware to allow them to withdraw the case against Hunter Biden so charges could be refiled in Washington, D.C., and California, which they said were the proper venues to resolve the allegations. They said talks about a plea deal were at an impasse and the case now appears headed for trial.
Chris Clark, a lawyer for Hunter Biden, said in a statement that Garland’s announcement doesn’t change the legal team’s understanding of Weiss’ authority over his five-year probe.
A spokesperson for Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said Weiss “can’t be trusted” and claimed his appointment is a “new way to whitewash the Biden family’s corruption.”
Rep. James Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, claimed the move is part of an attempt to cover-up wrongdoing by the Biden family amid congressional investigations.
Read more at CBSnews.com
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