Weeks after Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal on tax and gun charges crumbled in court, Attorney General Merrick Garland has elevated the lead prosecutor in the case, Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, to special counsel status.
Mr. Weiss, who since 2018 has been overseeing an inquiry into possible tax and financial crimes involving Hunter Biden, asked to be appointed special counsel on Tuesday and Mr. Garland agreed it was “in the public interest” to do so, the attorney general said Friday at a hastily convened news conference.
Hunter Biden is also a central figure in congressional investigations of President Biden’s alleged involvement in his family’s foreign business deals and alleged influence peddling and bribery. The investigations have implications for Mr. Biden’s presidency and his 2024 reelection campaign.
In announcing Mr. Weiss’ new special counsel status, the attorney general said that “extraordinary circumstances relating to this matter” warranted the move.
The move comes just weeks before Mr. Weiss had been slated to testify before the House Judiciary Committee about the now-scuttled plea agree, which would have spared the president’s son felony charges or any jail time for failing to pay his taxes and lying on a gun background check form.
The deal would have also shielded Hunter Biden from future prosecution for alleged foreign lobbying and other crimes related to the case. House investigators earlier this summer heard testimony from IRS whistleblowers who believe the Justice Department officials were slow-walking the case and thwarting the inquiry into Hunter Biden.
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House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, said in a statement that Mr. Weiss’ special counsel status “cannot be used to obstruct Congressional investigations or whitewash the Biden family corruption.”
Russell Dye, a spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, told The Washington Times that the committee expects the Justice Department to “fully cooperate with our investigation, including not interfering with the 11 transcribed interviews we have requested and David Weiss upholding his commitment to testify.”
He said the Justice Department hasn’t given any indication it is no longer willing to cooperate.
The discarded plea deal and Mr. Weiss’ elevated role raise the possibility that Hunter Biden could face further criminal charges, including potential violations of the Foreign Agent Registration Act, which requires lobbyists for foreign governments to register with the Justice Department.
Additional House testimony and new bank records and emails show Hunter Biden earned millions of dollars working on behalf of foreign companies that hoped to win help from his powerful father while he was vice president.
Hunter Biden’s attorney said he is not aware of any wrongdoing that his client committed outside of Delaware.
“It is hard to see why [Mr. Weiss] would have proposed such a resolution if there were other offenses he could have successfully prosecuted, and we are aware of none,” defense lawyer Chris Clark said in a statement. “We are confident when all of these maneuverings are at an end my client will have resolution and will be moving on with his life successfully.”
The judge last month asked both parties to resolve the plea deal dispute and get back to her, leaving it in limbo. Hunter Biden then changed his plea to not guilty while the situation is hammered out.
In a court filing Friday — just moments before Mr. Garland’s announcement — prosecutors said that the plea negotiations were at a stalemate and they expected the case to go to trial. They also requested the case be tried in California, saying it was the most appropriate venue for the case.
“After the hearing, the parties continued negotiating but reached an impasse,” prosecutors wrote. “A trial is therefore in order.”
Former President Donald Trump, who is the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said through a spokesman that the request for a California trial raised questions about the newly minted special counsel’s independence.
Mr. Weiss is trying to move the case “to a more Democrat-friendly venue,” the spokesperson said, adding that an independent investigation will quickly conclude that Mr. Biden and his son “should face the required consequences.”
The White House did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Mr. Biden ignored questions shouted by reporters as he departed the White House Friday for a weekend stay at his beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Calls for a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden intensified after two IRS investigators accused the Biden administration of trying to interfere with the inquiry.
In congressional testimony, the two agents said Mr. Weiss had recommended felony tax charges against Hunter Biden, even though his deal required him to plead guilty to only two misdemeanors.
A felony tax charge likely would have resulted in prison. Mr. Weiss’ office offered Hunter Biden a sentence of probation in exchange for the guilty plea on misdemeanor charges.
One of those agents, Joseph Ziegler, last month wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal urging Mr. Garland to appoint a special counsel because what he witnessed in the investigation was “outside the norm.”
Yet Mr. Weiss had repeatedly assured lawmakers there was no interference in the Hunter Biden investigaton. In a June letter to the House Judiciary Committee, Mr. Weiss said he had been “granted ultimate authority over the matter.”
Mr. Weiss was nominated to be U.S. attorney by Mr. Trump in 2017 and confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate in 2018.
The Justice Department order appointing Mr. Weiss as special counsel authorizes him to “conduct the ongoing investigation … as well as any matters that arose from that investigation or may rise” as the inquiry continues.
As special counsel, Mr. Weiss will have the authority to bring criminal charges in any jurisdiction, not just Delaware — a power he does not have as U.S. attorney. Mr. Weiss will also have greater autonomy to make decisions than he has in his current role.
He will be required to publicly release a report of his finding when the investigation is completed. Other recent special counsels, including Robert Mueller and John Durham, have written lengthy reports detailing their conclusions.
“Mr. Weiss has the authority he needs to conduct a thorough investigation and continue to take steps he deems appropriate independently, based only on the facts and the law,” Mr. Garland said.
Mr. Weiss is the third special counsel appointed by Mr. Garland since he took over the Justice Department in 2021.
Last November, Mr. Garland named Jack Smith to serve as special counsel to look into Mr. Trump’s handling of classified government documents and his efforts to reverse the results of the 2020 election. Mr. Smith has filed criminal charges stemming from both investigations.
Mr. Garland in January named Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate classified documents that turned up in President Biden’s office and residence dating to his time as vice president.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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