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Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday named David Weiss, a federal prosector appointed by Donald Trump, as a special counsel tasked with investigating Hunter Biden.
Weiss, who has been investigating the president’s son since 2019, requested to be made a special counsel on Tuesday. The appointment gives Weiss the authority to continue investigating Biden “as well as any matters that arose from that investigation or may arise,” and to “prosecute federal crimes in any federal judicial district arising from the investigation of these matters.”
Trump nominated Weiss to serve as a federal prosecutor in 2017, with the Republican-controlled Senate confirming him a year later. Nevertheless, conservatives are pissed.
Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) went on Fox News to call the appointment an “attempt to whitewash the Biden family corruption” and stymie the congressional investigation into Biden. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) agreed, telling Weiss he’s “not off the hook” and that this “Friday afternoon gambit is not going to work.” The House Oversight Committee offered a similar take, releasing a statement alleging that the Justice Department was trying to obstruct its work and calling the appointment a “Biden family coverup.”
The lesson, of course, is that nothing will satisfy Republicans short of Garland appointing Trump himself to investigate Biden. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) whined in February about the Justice Department’s failure to appoint a special counsel, before Fox News reported on Friday that he’s among those upset that it actually did, claiming Weiss isn’t the right man for the job. Sen. Graham was pushing for Weiss to become a special counsel as recently as last month.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) also weighed in,
Weiss secured a plea deal from Biden in June, with the president’s son agreeing to cop totwo federal misdemeanor charges related to failing to pay his taxes. The deal fell through the following month when it actually came time for Biden to enter the plea, however. The Justice Department and Biden’s defense team couldn’t sort out the specifics of the deal to U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika’s liking, leading her to put the case on hold while Biden pleaded not guilty.
Trump and his Republican allies have been raging at what they allege is favorable treatment from the Justice Department, despite the fact that Trump appointed the prosecutor responsible. “Wow! The corrupt Biden DOJ just cleared up hundreds of years of criminal liability by giving Hunter Biden a mere ‘traffic ticket.’ Our system is BROKEN!” the former presidentwroteon Truth Social in June.
Republicans in Congress reacted similarly as they have been desperately working to dredge up evidence that Biden and his father were engaged in a bribery scheme. They’ve been teasing evidence of such a scheme for months, but so far have produced nothing. Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.) on Thursday basically admitted that they don’t have anything incriminating against Biden, alleging on Fox News that he and his colleagues never claimed money went directly to the president.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) later claimed on Newsmax that the president had taken money before appearing to correct himself and specify that he was talking about Biden’s family. “Our president has taken millions— his family has taken millions and millions of dollars from some of the worst people on the planet.”
Nevertheless, Comer said, “I’d vote for impeachment right now.”
