Comer, GOP Slam Weiss Appointment as More DOJ Cover-up
Comer, GOP Slam Weiss Appointment as More DOJ Cover-up
AG GARLAND APPOINTS DAVID WEISS AS SPECIAL COUNSEL IN HUNTER BIDEN CASE
By Sandy Fitzgerald | Friday, 11 August 2023 04:08 PM EDT
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer Friday accused David Weiss’ appointment as the special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden as being part of the continuing efforts by the Department of Justice to cover up the Biden family’s actions.
Several other key Republicans followed suit with concerns that the appointment is a ploy to hinder the ongoing congressional investigation into the matter.
“This move by AG [Merrick] Garland is part of the Justice Department’s efforts to attempt a Biden family coverup in light of @GOPoversight‘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, who has been spearheading the investigation into the Bidens, posted on social media site X (formerly Twitter) shortly after the announcement was made.
Weiss already has come under fire for a plea agreement he presented for Hunter Biden that would have had him pleading guilty to just two misdemeanor tax charges.
However, on Friday, just before Weiss was announced as the special counsel, the plea agreement Republicans slammed as being a “sweetheart deal” fell apart, leaving the president’s son to face a trial.
Weiss has been Delaware’s U.S. attorney after his 2018 appointment by then-President Donald Trump. When he was confirmed by the Senate in 2018, he was one of nine candidates Trump said shared his “vision for ‘Making America Safe Again.'”
Weiss’ probe of Hunter Biden began as early as 2018, with the investigation centering on Hunter Biden’s financial and business activities in foreign countries, dating back to when Joe Biden was the vice president, reports CBS News.
Weiss met in April with Hunter Biden’s attorneys, who had requested a status update on the investigation into him, his activities, and his laptop.
A plea agreement was reached in June, in which Hunter Biden agreed to plead guilty to just two tax misdemeanors in order to resolve a felony gun charge, but Weiss said Friday that the plea talks between his team and Biden had broken down in recent weeks after a Delaware judge said she could not accept the original arrangement.
The attorney general said the decision to appoint Weiss as special counsel was made after the attorney told him earlier this week that “in his judgment, his investigation has reached a stage at which he should continue his work as a special counsel, and he asked to be appointed.”
But after Garland’s announcement came Comer’s statement, along with those of other key Republicans, questioning whether Weiss could be trusted, particularly after the deal critics have called a “sweetheart” plea was presented.
“This action by Biden’s DOJ cannot be used to obstruct congressional investigations or whitewash the Biden family corruption,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on X. “If Weiss negotiated the sweetheart deal that couldn’t get approved, how can he be trusted as a Special Counsel? House Republicans will continue to pursue the facts for the American people.”
Comer said in his statement that the DOJ’s “misconduct and politicization in the Biden criminal investigation already allowed the statute of limitations to run with respect to egregious felonies committed by Hunter Biden.”
He also accused the DOJ of refusing to follow evidence that could lead to the president, tipping off the Biden transition team and Hunter Biden’s lawyers about planned interviews and searches, and attempting to “sneakily place Hunter Biden on the path to a sweetheart plea deal.”
The move to appoint Weiss, Comer added, is about how “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.”
He added that the Oversight Committee will continue to follow the Biden family’s money trail and interview witnesses “to determine whether foreign actors targeted the Bidens, President Biden is compromised and corrupt, and our national security is threatened.”
Earlier Friday, before Garland ma
