Hunter Biden investigation: Garland appoints David Weiss as special counsel
Ashley Oliver
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Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday he appointed U.S. Attorney David Weiss to serve as special counsel in the investigation into Hunter Biden after Weiss requested to Garland that he be given the authority this week.
“Upon considering his request, as well as the extraordinary circumstances relating to this matter, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint him as special counsel,” Garland said.
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Federal investigators in Delaware opened an inquiry into Hunter Biden in 2019, according to Garland, and they subpoenaed his now-infamous laptop from a repair shop as part of it.
Garland noted that Weiss, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, began leading the investigation at the time based on allegations of “certain criminal conduct by, among others, Robert Hunter Biden.”
“That investigation remains ongoing,” Garland added.
In June, the investigation resulted in Weiss’s office and Hunter Biden reaching a now-failed plea deal, which involved the younger Biden pleading guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and entering into a pretrial diversion agreement to avoid a felony gun charge.
Republicans widely denounced it as a “sweetheart” plea deal, and U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon made a surprise decision last month to defer the deal out of concerns about what she observed as “unusual” provisions, including concerns that it may preclude Hunter Biden from future prosecution.
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At the same time as Garland’s announcement, court documents were filed on Friday that revealed federal prosecutors and attorneys for Hunter Biden had hit an “impasse” on the deal and that the case was expected to go to trial.