Republicans cry foul over special counsel appointment in Hunter Biden case

Republicans slammed Attorney General Merrick Garland’s appointment of Delaware US Attorney David Weiss as special counsel in the Hunter Biden investigation Friday, saying the move would “stonewall” ongoing congressional probes.

“This is an attempt to whitewash the Biden family corruption,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) told Fox News. “Mr. Weiss is the single architect over that sweetheart plea agreement deal that the judge in Delaware threw out just a few weeks ago.”

“I am worried that this special counsel will only try to block Congress’ legislative authority to investigate,” he added. “And let me tell you, we’re not going to slow down because this isn’t about Hunter Biden. This is about President Biden, and his influence and how his son has helped enrich the entire Biden family.”

“I think they’re trying to make it harder,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told the cable news outlet, calling Weiss’ elevation a “dumber-than-dirt political move.”

“They’re trying to put out a fire — and they just poured gasoline on it.”

“The guy that wrote the plea agreement, did it in a fashion to give Hunter Biden the biggest break maybe in American legal history,” Graham added. “Does anybody in their right mind trust the Weiss team to continue to fairly and impartially investigate the Hunter Biden-Joe Biden matter? I don’t.”

“This action by Biden’s DOJ cannot be used to obstruct congressional investigations or whitewash the Biden family corruption,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) affirmed on X, formerly known as Twitter.

US District Judge Maryellen Noreika during a July 26 hearing called out one of Weiss’ prosecutors over what he admitted was an unprecedented plea deal that would have allowed Hunter Biden to serve just two years of probation for tax misdemeanors.

The deal had also included blanket immunity for past crimes as part of a diversion agreement that waived charges for the first son over lying on a federal gun purchase form about his drug use while addicted to crack cocaine.

“Have you ever seen a diversion agreement that is so broad that it encompasses crimes in another case?” Noreika asked Special Assistant US Attorney Leo Wise in court.

“No, your honor,” Wise said, later adding that further charges such as failure to register as a foreign agent were possible as part of an “ongoing” investigation.

The implication caused Hunter’s attorney Chris Clark to reject the deal.

In a Friday filing, federal prosecutors asked for the Delaware case to be dismissed so that charges could be brought in another district, likely Washington DC or Southern California.

“Biden’s DOJ wants to dismiss the charges against Hunter, *supposedly* to refile them elsewhere, no doubt before some liberal judge who will rubber-stamp a sweetheart deal,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) tweeted. “Remember, when Biden’s DOJ and Hunter’s lawyers meet, they’re not negotiating. They’re conspiring.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in November 2020 called on the Justice Department to investigate potential Foreign Agent Registration Act violations, following his own report on Hunter’s overseas business ventures.

“Since at least 2019, the FBI and Justice Department have possessed glaring evidence of criminality involving the Biden family’s business ventures,” Grassley said in a statement from the Iowa State Fair on Friday. “Given the underhanded plea deal negotiated by the US Attorney from President Biden’s home state, it’s clear Mr. Weiss isn’t the right person for the job.”

Elsewhere in Iowa, 2024 GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis told an audience in the small town of Audobon that if Hunter Biden was a Republican, “he’d be in jail right now, and we all know that.”

Former Vice President Mike Pence said in a statement that “I can’t relate” to Hunter’s influence-peddling activities.

“When I was vice president, my son was flying an F-35 in the Marine Corps defending this country,” he added. “I think it’s about time that we saw the appointment of a special counsel to get to the bottom of not only what Hunter Biden was doing, but what the Biden family was doing. The American people deserve answers and I welcome it.”

The plea deal’s collapse came weeks after two IRS agents testified to Smith’s panel that Weiss’ office had “slow-walked” a five-year probe into Hunter’s alleged tax crimes, blocking investigators from taking certain steps.

“They saw where the Justice Department was delaying the investigation so much that the statute of limitations expired for the crimes of 2014 and 2015; where they divulged information to Hunter Biden’s lawyers to give them a heads up of search warrants that they were going to do the next day,” Smith told FNC’s “America’s Newsroom.”

“And also our whistleblowers highlighted where Mr. Weiss said that he was denied the ability to bring charges in California and DC and also a special counsel.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the day after the plea deal blew up that the president would not pardon his son if eventually charged with a crime.

“This is the same president who several years ago said that he knew nothing of his son’s business dealings,” Smith pointed out Friday. “And then after the Ways and Means Committee released the public testimony of the two IRS whistleblowers, that proved differently.”

“The president then came out with a statement saying that he wasn’t involved with his son’s business dealings,” he said. “The only thing that has changed over the last several months, our comments from the Biden family, our IRS whistleblowers have been consistent, and they’re the ones that were brave to come forward to release all this information.”

IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley testified that Weiss told six witnesses on Oct. 7, 2022, that US attorneys E. Martin Estrada and Matthew Graves had barred him from bringing charges against Hunter in their districts. Both were appointed by Biden in 2021.

Weiss denied the account and told Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Graham in several letters over the past months that he had “ultimate authority” to bring charges in the case.

“First, David Weiss said he didn’t have the power he needed and wanted special counsel status. Then, he said he had all the power he needs,” Jordan tweeted.

“Now, he gets special counsel status because he didn’t really have the power he needs? Something’s not right.”

Weiss had been slated to testify before the House Judiciary Committee following the August recess, an appearance which may be in jeopardy given the prosecutor’s new status.

Republican lawmakers and aides maintain that no federal employees will be “off the hook” as the committees continue to probe facets of the case.

“We expect the Department to fully cooperate with our investigation, including not interfering with the 11 transcribed interviews we have requested and David Weiss upholding his commitment to testify, and we have not heard anything from the Department indicating it is no longer willing to do so,” Jordan spokesman Russell Dye said in a statement.

“This is absolutely unacceptable to the American people. David Weiss is compromised and cannot be trusted to conduct a fair investigation into Hunter Biden,” House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) also said in a statement.

“House Republicans will continue our constitutional duty of oversight, following the facts wherever they lead in our investigation of the Biden family illegal influence-peddling scheme.”