Top House Republicans demanded paperwork, communications and directives from the Justice Department surrounding the appointment of U.S. Delaware Attorney David Weiss to particular counsel standing within the Hunter Biden probe.
Republican chairmen from three separate House committees despatched the letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, giving the highest DOJ official till Sept. 11 to adjust to their calls for.
The letter, signed by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer of Kentucky, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio, and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith of Missouri, contended that the explanation for Mr. Weiss’ appointment was murky and raised “numerous concerns.”
“Your appointment raises numerous concerns considering earlier statements from you and Mr. Weiss that Mr. Weiss already had ‘ultimate’ authority — free of any political pressure — to pursue the investigation” nevertheless he wished, the lawmakers wrote.
“Now, recently reported information raises additional concerns about the Department’s unusual actions in this matter, and suggests that the Department under your leadership has been attempting to circumvent the rule of law in favor of Hunter Biden, President Biden, and the Biden family,” the lawmakers wrote. “Given the extremely serious nature of these issues, the Committees expect unfettered cooperation with our oversight from both you and the Department.”
The lawmakers questioned Mr. Weiss’ decision-making following the collapse of the plea deal earlier this month to which he and Hunter Biden’s protection attorneys agreed.
The deal crumbled below scrutiny from a U.S. District Court choose who questioned a part of the deal that associated to a felony gun cost towards the primary son.
The settlement, broadly blasted as a sweetheart deal, would have let Hunter Biden plead responsible to 2 misdemeanor tax prices, and permit the dismissal of a felony gun cost if he accomplished two years of probation. It additionally would have given him blanket immunity from all attainable future prices on his Burisma ties.
Following the collapse of the deal, Mr. Weiss requested and was permitted by Mr. Garland to be appointed particular counsel.
“It is not clear why you have only now, after the investigation has been going on for five years, opted to appoint Mr. Weiss as special counsel, especially after you and the Department represented that Mr. Weiss already had ‘ultimate’ authority over the case,” the lawmakers wrote.
“Indeed, the only explanation you have offered is that ‘extraordinary circumstances’ require the appointment,” the three GOP chairmen added.
The lawmakers additionally questioned Mr. Weiss’ management of the tax probe, notably for a laundry checklist of deviations from normal investigative procedures that the trio stated “afforded Hunter Biden special privileges not afforded to other Americans.”
Some of these deviations, based on whistleblower testimony, included tipping off Hunter Biden’s attorneys that investigators had been planning to go looking a storage unit that he owned, and permitting the statute of limitations to expire on tax prices in 2014 and 2015.
“Now you have appointed as special counsel an individual who oversaw all the investigation’s irregularities, who spent the past two months claiming that he did not need special counsel status, and who was responsible for the plea agreement that collapsed in court and is widely viewed as an embarrassment for the Department,” the lawmakers wrote within the letter.
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