The decision by the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, to appoint a special counsel in the investigation of Hunter Biden has rankled some of the same congressional Republicans who have demanded more scrutiny of the president’s son.
Republicans might have celebrated Garland’s announcement as a vindication of their dogged efforts to uncover wrongdoing in Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings, which have become a central focus of their investigative work since regaining control of the House of Representatives in January. Instead, Republicans voiced doubt that the special counsel appointment would result in a fair investigation, and they took the opportunity to repeat their unfounded claims about Joe Biden’s allegedly corrupt financial activities with his son.
Garland announced that he was naming David Weiss, the US attorney in Delaware who has overseen the investigation of Hunter Biden for roughly four years, as special counsel, due to “the extraordinary circumstances relating to this matter”. The news comes as a previously agreed upon plea deal negotiated between prosecutors and Hunter Biden’s lawyers appears to have fallen apart, after the judge overseeing the case expressed concern over its parameters.
“Today’s announcement affords the prosecutors, agents, and analysts working on this matter the ability to proceed with their work expeditiously, and to make decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law,” Garland said.
Republicans generally scoffed at Garland’s reassurance. They pointed to Hunter Biden’s “sweetheart” plea deal as evidence that the Department of Justice cannot be trusted to handle the case, even though legal experts have noted the tax and gun charges initially brought against the president’s son are rarely prosecuted.
Donald Trump, who has been indicted three times this year and faces dozens of criminal charges, has repeatedly cited Hunter Biden’s plea deal as an example of a double standard in law enforcement, and his presidential campaign was quick to release a statement on the announcement.
A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign claimed the Bidens “have been protected by the justice department for decades” and that they “should face the required consequences”. A Trump-aligned Super Pac released a statement casting doubt upon Weiss’s ability to adequately conduct the investigation, even though Trump appointed Weiss to his post.
The congresswoman Lauren Boebert, a far-right Republican from Colorado, expressed similar skepticism over Weiss’s impartiality. “Given how Hunter has been treated this far, pardon me if I’m not extremely excited that anything will actually come of this,” she wrote on Twitter, which is now known as X.
Republicans pointed to the timing of Weiss’s appointment as another knock against the justice department, arguing that Garland should have named a special counsel far earlier. Weiss said last month he had never asked to be named as a special counsel in the case, contradicting a whistleblower’s claims otherwise. In his announcement, Garland said Weiss requested a special counsel designation earlier this week so he could continue his investigation into Hunter Biden.
“A year too late,” Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican of North Carolina, said of Garland’s announcement.
House Republican leaders also emphasized that the special counsel appointment must not interfere with their own inquiries into Hunter Biden and his business dealings, which now span across multiple committees.
“This action by Biden’s DoJ cannot be used to obstruct congressional investigations or whitewash the Biden family corruption,” House Republican speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Twitter. “House Republicans will continue to pursue the facts for the American people.”
Congressman James Comer, the Republican chair of the House oversight committee, described the special counsel appointment as “part of the justice department’s efforts to attempt a Biden family cover-up in light of the committee’s mounting evidence of President Joe Biden’s role in his family’s schemes selling ‘the brand’ for millions of dollars to foreign nationals”.
In reality, House Republicans have so far presented no direct evidence that Joe Biden profited from Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings. Hunter Biden’s business associate, Devon Archer, told the committee last week that he was not aware of any wrongdoing on the part of Joe Biden.
Despite that, Comer pledged his committee “will continue to follow the Biden family’s money trail” and “hold bad actors accountable for weaponizing law enforcement powers”.
As Republicans prepared to ramp up their investigations, Democrats remained largely silent about the special counsel announcement. Democratic lawmakers appeared to greet the earlier news of Hunter Biden’s plea agreement with quiet relief, perhaps eager to put the matter behind them before the 2024 elections.
But Weiss’s appointment as special counsel guarantees Hunter Biden will remain under investigation and in the headlines for a while longer, a reality that could complicate his father’s hopes of winning a second presidential term next year.
