While discussing the recent appointment of a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden, Representative Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) said Sunday that the president’s son “did a lot of really unlawful and wrong things.”
During an appearance on ABC’s This Week, Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said the process of getting a special counsel appointed in the case was “bumpy.”
He said the “material change” in the situation was “simply the collapse of the plea agreement.”
“And certainly there was political pressure being brought on it, which I don’t approve of,” he added.”
Hunter Biden’s “sweetheart plea deal” fell through in recent weeks. Under the deal, Hunter would have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor tax charges and submit to a diversion agreement related to a felony gun charge in exchange for broad immunity from future charges related to foreign influence peddling. But Judge Maryellen Noreika challenged the terms of the deal, calling such a broad immunity deal unprecedented.
Just before attorney general Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel on Friday, prosecutors said in a court filing that the revised deal had fallen through and that they expect the case to go to trial.
“We’ve all seen clear that this guy was addicted to drugs and did a lot of really unlawful and wrong things. We have said, ‘Let the justice system run its course,’” Raskin said Sunday.
He said federal prosecutors should be allowed to continue their investigation insulated from political pressures.
“David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware, who had been nominated by Donald Trump, can make the decisions about what to charge, where to charge and when to charge,” Raskin added. “And with the collapse of the plea agreement that he had apparently worked out with Hunter Biden, now he wants to be certain that he’s got the authority to go bring charges wherever he wants.”
“From my perspective, it is the rule of law and the justice system working itself out the way that it does and, obviously, it’s bumpy and this side or that side doesn’t necessarily prefer this course of events,” Raskin said. “But our job, I think, as political people is to allow the justice system to run its course.”
Garland said Weiss requested special counsel authority on Tuesday. The attorney general said he chose to grant the request “after consideration” and that Weiss will continue to oversee the “ongoing investigation” of Hunter as well as “any other matters that arose or may arise from that investigation.”
The appointment “reinforces for the American people the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters,” Garland said.
Weiss insisted last month that he had “ultimate authority” over the Hunter Biden probe, despite IRS whistleblower allegations that the IRS, DOJ, and FBI interfered with the investigation.
The two IRS whistleblowers told the House Ways and Means Committee they pushed for felony charges against Hunter Biden in the tax probe and that Weiss wanted to bring charges against the younger Biden in the District of Columbia and Southern California last year but was denied by DOJ officials both times.
Weiss also asked to be appointed special counsel in the case on several occasions, including in Spring 2022, but those requests were also rebuffed by the DOJ, according to the whistleblowers’ testimony.