Garland names special counsel in Hunter Biden investigation
Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who has been investigating criminal allegations against President Biden's surviving son, Hunter Biden, has been named a special counsel, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday. Weiss made the request to be special counsel to Garland on Tuesday of this week.
Weiss, a Trump appointee as U.S. attorney who was retained during the Biden administration, has been investigating Hunter Biden since 2019. He reached a tentative plea deal with Hunter Biden, but it collapsed amid scrutiny from a Delaware federal judge.
Updated August 11, 2023 at 12:47 PM ET
The order of appointment for Weiss to serve as special counsel authorizes him to "conduct the ongoing investigation described above, as well as any matters that arose from that investigation or may arise."
The order gives Weiss the authority to "prosecute federal crimes in any federal judicial district arising from the investigation of these matters."
Attorney General Garland said Weiss requested the special counsel status earlier this week after determining that "in his judgment, his investigation has reached a stage at which he should continue his work as Special Counsel and he asked to be so appointed."
Weiss will produce a report at the end of his investigation pursuant with special counsel regulations. Garland said he would make that report public consistent with the law and Justice Department policy.
The development comes just weeks after the judge in the Hunter Biden case said she wasn't ready to accept the plea deal struck between the president's son and the Justice Department, and asked both parties to submit additional briefs and return to the court on a future date.
She demanded that the lawyers from both sides make clear that the deal does not convey broad immunity offered to Biden from prosecution on his business dealings. As a result, Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor offenses related to his filing of federal income taxes. He will reverse that plea if a new plea agreement meets Noreika's approval.
But on Friday, the prosecutor in the case said the parties are at an impasse on the plea deal and a trial is in order, according to a court filing.
"Following additional negotiations after the hearing held on July 26, 2023, the parties are at an impasse and are not in agreement on either a plea agreement or a diversion agreement," the Justice Department said in the filing.
It said prosecutors requested Biden's position on Aug. 9 and asked for it by Aug. 11. Biden's lawyers said they needed an extension until Aug. 14, "which the Government declined." Bide had not yet provided his position, the filing said.
"As a result, the Government respectfully requests that the Court vacate its briefing order since there is no longer a plea agreement or diversion agreement for the Court to consider," the filing said.
Earlier this year, Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor offenses related to his filing of federal income taxes. Federal authorities also charged him with a felony firearm offense, for which he agreed to enter a pretrial diversion agreement that allows him to avoid prosecution.
According to David Weiss, the Trump-appointed Delaware U.S. attorney, Biden did not pay federal income taxes for either 2017 or 2018, despite owing more than $100,000 in taxes each year. Additionally, in October 2018 Biden possessed a firearm despite knowing he was an unlawful user of and addicted to a controlled substance, Weiss' office said.
Biden faced a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison on each of the tax charges and a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the firearm charge, but Weiss' office noted that actual sentences determined by judges are typically less than the maximums. A source familiar with the deal said the Justice Department had agreed to recommend probation on the tax charges but a judge will make the ultimate decision.
Republicans have said the plea deal struck was an example of unfair treatment for Biden soon after former President Donald Trump was arraigned on separate and unrelated federal charges related to his handling of classified documents. Trump was separately charged for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot [Copyright 2023 NPR]
