A top House Republican investigating Hunter Biden cast doubt on the need for a special counsel appointment despite many Republicans clamoring for an independent prosecutor amid growing whistleblower allegations.
Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told the Washington Examiner that “Congress has the tools to hold the Department of Justice and the Biden family accountable.”
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“I’ve expressed skepticism of special counsels in the past because their investigations take time, often produce little results, and require more taxpayer dollars,” Comer said. “The Oversight Committee will continue our investigation into the Biden family’s influence-peddling schemes to inform legislative solutions to prevent public officials and their families from abusing public office for private gain.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware is handling the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden. It is up to U.S. Attorney David Weiss, a Trump-appointed holdover, to decide whether to indict the president’s son. In February 2021, President Joe Biden asked all Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys appointed by President Donald Trump to give their resignations, with Weiss being a rare exception.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has repeatedly vowed to ensure that Weiss is insulated from any political interference and has refused to appoint a special counsel. The investigation has been marred by allegations of political bias and retaliation against whistleblowers.
Comer released new details this year related to millions of dollars that Hunter Biden and other Biden family members have received from foreign sources, including Romania and China.
FBI Director Christopher Wray has repeatedly defied a subpoena from Comer, who has told the bureau to hand over an alleged confidential human source claim that purportedly laid out a “criminal scheme” related to a potential pay-to-play between then-Vice President Joe Biden and an unnamed foreign national.
The DOJ’s Hunter Biden investigation has been dogged by whistleblower allegations that it is being stymied and by allegations of conflicts of interest.
Hunter Biden revealed he was under federal investigation for his taxes shortly after the 2020 election, and the federal agents who have been investigating him reportedly believe they have unearthed enough evidence to charge him with crimes related to tax fraud and lying during his purchase of a handgun.
The bigger questions remain whether the DOJ has been considering more significant charges tied to money laundering or foreign lobbying.
Hunter Biden held a lucrative position on the board of Ukrainian energy giant Burisma while his father was vice president, and he also pursued business deals in China and elsewhere during and after his father’s tenure, raking in millions.
Lawyers for an IRS whistleblower on the Hunter Biden tax case said last month that their client had documented examples of "preferential treatment and politics improperly infecting" the Hunter Biden case. The IRS supervisory special agent rejected the "sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee.”
A source familiar with the whistleblower letter confirmed to the Washington Examiner that Garland was the unnamed senior Biden official whose testimony before Congress is being challenged.
A second IRS whistleblower, a case agent, has also now alleged retaliation for raising concerns that Justice Department leadership was "acting inappropriately" on the investigation into Hunter Biden.
Both whistleblowers were removed from the federal investigation into possible Hunter Biden tax violations this month, which the first whistleblower’s lawyers called “clear retaliatory.”
Republicans led by Trump have hammered Garland to appoint a special counsel into Hunter Biden since the DOJ leader appointed one to investigate the former president in November.
“Joe Biden is a corrupt and incompetent political hack. You take a look at all of the money he has taken from foreign countries and others, much of it through his son Hunter, who is a corrupt drug addict and implementer for his father,” Trump remarked during an America First Policy Institute speech. “Where is their special prosecutor, by the way?”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) also tweeted in the wake of Garland’s announcement: “This is an admission of a conflict of interest by DOJ; now acknowledge the obvious conflict of interest in Hunter Biden investigation and appoint a special counsel. #NoDoubleStandard.”
Cornyn helped organize a letter in September that called on Garland to grant special counsel authorities to Weiss, arguing the investigation should be "free from political influence.”
The letter was signed by at least 33 Senate Republicans, including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the Republican minority leader, and Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI), who have long led investigations into Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings.
Dozens of House Republicans have also called upon Garland to appoint a special counsel for the investigation.
Then-Attorney General William Barr rejected the idea of a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden in December 2020, but he now believes Weiss should be given special counsel powers.
Garland testified in February 2021 that Joe Biden had not discussed the Hunter investigation with him. When asked in October 2021 about a letter pushing him to appoint a special counsel at the time, the attorney general said, “We’ll be taking it under advisement.”
Garland was also asked about a special counsel in April 2022 in the context of Hunter Biden.
“I want to be clear, though: Special counsels are also employees of the Justice Department,” Garland said. “The question of whether to have a special counsel is one that is internal decision-making of the department, so I don’t want to make any judgments one way or the other, but I’m quite comfortable with the United States attorney for that district continuing in the role that he is playing.”
"He is supervising the investigation," Garland said of Weiss. “There will not be interference of any political or improper kind."
Meanwhile, Jack Smith’s special counsel investigation into Trump and his alleged mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago is reportedly “wrapping up” as the Justice Department moves toward a possible indictment of the former president.
President Joe Biden is also being investigated by another Garland-appointed special counsel, Robert Hur. Biden’s personal attorneys said they first discovered classified documents in early November 2022 at the Penn Biden Center, located in Washington, D.C. Biden’s lawyers then found more classified documents at his Wilmington home in Delaware, and the Department of Justice found more when it conducted its own search.
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The Biden administration has also cited the existence of special counsel investigations as a reason to slow-walk information sharing with Republican congressional investigators as well.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers met with DOJ officials representing the tax division and the U.S. attorney in Delaware in late April.