To hear Merrick Garland tell the story, granting Special Counsel status to the prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden proves he is taking this case seriously.
Critics say it’s proof of precisely the opposite.
President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden may be headed for a criminal trial, U.S. Special Counsel David Weiss said shortly after promotion into that role on Friday, in a sign that courtroom drama could play an outsized role in the 2024 presidential election.
A potential trial raises the possibility of an unprecedented spectacle in U.S. history: The son of a sitting president facing criminal charges while his father campaigns for re-election, likely against Republican Donald Trump, who faces at least three upcoming criminal trials of his own.
[…]
Weiss said in a court filing on Friday that talks between the two sides have since broken down. “The Government now believes that the case will not resolve short of a trial,” he wrote.The filing came moments after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland elevated Weiss to special counsel status, giving him additional authority and independence to pursue the investigation. — Reuters
This is, of course, the same prosecutor (from Delaware, no less!) who had tucked broad immunity deal the fine print of the plea deal. When the judge called B.S. on that clause, the deal fell apart… and could not be revived.
The inability to revive the deal is what prompted this next step. Weiss has already run a case that has let the statute of limitations lapse in the most egregious of his tax crimes and has asked for special prosecutor status.
This comes at precisely the moment in which GOP Congressional oversight has been lining up witnesses — including Weiss — as they seek answers to whether Biden’s DOJ has been applying the law selectively and whether this appointment is a ploy to handcuff an investigation into what could ultimately determine whether there has been criminal corruption on the part the Joe Biden himself.
Catherine Herridge looked beyond the face value of the announcement into what might be motivating this as a political decision.
This would be an effective way for Team Biden to solve two problems with one move.
This would put the investigation of Hunter Biden, which has already been slow-walked for years, to get dragged out for some other indeterminate amount of time (i.e., AFTER the 2024 election cycle) with the real possibility that he (conveniently) recommends no charges be laid.
The other effect it would have is to give the Biden administration a convenient excuse to say that David Weiss (and other people related to the Biden family investigation), that Congress has announced plans to subpoena, will be suddenly unavailable because of the DOJ’s favorite dodge.
Everybody says it together now: they can’t comply because there is ‘an ongoing investigation.’
How ‘fortunate’ for Team Biden.
There’s a problem, though.
Weiss doesn’t technically qualify to be a special counsel.
There’s a problem, by law Weiss cannot be a special counsel because he works inside the government. The law (see below) says a special counselor should be from outside the government. Weiss is a U.S. Attorney and a government employee.
Someone might say, ‘But Durham!’.
Maybe, but this is different.
Weiss works under the man who works for the father of the man he is investigating.
Cross-Posted with Clash Daily
