Attorney General Merrick Garland’s announcement on Friday that he’d elevated the U.S. attorney investigating Hunter Biden to a special counsel could spell trouble for House Republicans’ investigations of the Biden family.
Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, now a special counsel, had faced criticism from GOP lawmakers after two IRS whistleblowers and at least one former FBI agent raised allegations of favorable treatment offered to Hunter Biden. Weiss was left in charge of the five-year-old investigation when President Joe Biden took office.
UP FOR DEBATE: TRUMP, DESANTIS, AND 2024 GOP HOPEFULS' STANCE ON CLIMATE AND GREEN AGENDA
The House Judiciary Committee had asked in July to speak with Weiss and Lesley Wolf, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Delaware office, among other Justice Department officials. The whistleblowers had claimed Wolf, in particular, took steps to block search warrants, tip off Hunter Biden’s lawyers about upcoming investigative steps, and shut down lines of inquiry that might have involved Joe Biden.
In letters requesting the interviews, House Judiciary Committee lawmakers had pointed to the expected conclusion of the Hunter Biden investigation in late July as a reason why the Justice Department should make their officials available; late July was supposed to see Hunter Biden accept a plea deal Weiss had offered before it collapsed in court.
“David Weiss can’t be trusted and this is just a new way to whitewash the Biden family’s corruption. Weiss has already signed off on a sweetheart plea deal that was so awful and unfair that a federal judge rejected it,” said Russell Dye, spokesperson for the House Judiciary Committee. “We will continue to pursue facts brought to light by brave whistleblowers as well as Weiss’s inconsistent statements to Congress.”
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) also objected to the appointment of Weiss as special counsel.
“This move by Attorney General Garland is part of the Justice Department’s efforts to attempt a Biden family coverup in light of the House Oversight Committee’s mounting evidence of President Joe Biden’s role in his family’s schemes selling ‘the brand’ for millions of dollars to foreign nationals," Comer said in a statement.
“Let’s be clear what today’s move is really about. The Biden Justice Department is trying to stonewall congressional oversight as we have presented evidence to the American people about the Biden family’s corruption," Comer added.
Weiss’s plea agreement included two misdemeanor tax charges and offered a diversion agreement to avoid a charge on an unrelated firearm offense.
The charges did not involve alleged crimes committed outside Weiss’s jurisdiction in Delaware, which seemed to bolster whistleblower claims that two Joe Biden-appointed U.S. attorneys in other jurisdictions had blocked Weiss’s ability to pursue more serious charges.
Weiss and Garland have maintained for months that Weiss had ultimate authority in making charging decisions and taking investigative steps, but the appointment this week of Weiss as a special counsel suggests that might not have been the case.
The House Judiciary Committee may struggle now to get answers about the years of slow-walking that occurred in the Hunter Biden probe.
But the House Oversight Committee may have an easier time proceeding with its separate, related investigation.
House Oversight Republicans are digging into the substance of what Hunter Biden is accused of doing: unregistered foreign lobbying, money laundering, and peddling access to his father, then the vice president.
They have gotten much of their evidence to date from sources outside the Biden administration, including from banks and from Hunter Biden’s former business associates.
The Justice Department may not be able to stop outside entities from cooperating with the House Oversight Committee in the name of a special counsel.
Also on Friday, the Justice Department appeared to make clear that Hunter Biden could no longer count on a plea deal from Weiss’s office. In a court filing, the DOJ confirmed that it had reached a stalemate in negotiations with Hunter Biden’s legal team over how to proceed, making it more likely that the legal saga will end in a trial.
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor tax charges.
The statute of limitations on some of the most serious alleged tax offenses has expired. For example, Hunter Biden did not pay taxes on the income he earned in 2014 from Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company that at the time paid him $83,000 per month.
Too much time has elapsed for Weiss to bring charges on that offense, even though the investigation began well within the window for him to do so. The statute of limitations is approaching for other years during which Hunter Biden is alleged to have committed financial crimes, putting more pressure on Weiss to proceed.
The appointment of the special counsel also comes as House Republicans grow increasingly vocal about the prospect of an impeachment inquiry.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had recently signaled an openness to the idea, and GOP lawmakers had expressed the hope that an impeachment inquiry could shake loose some information that the Biden administration has refused to provide so far.
With Weiss at the helm of a special counsel probe, however, the Justice Department would likely have new reasons not to cooperate with an impeachment inquiry.