The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has accused the special prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden of “prosecution misconduct” and claims David Weiss deliberately dropped potential charges.
Mike Turner said he had serious doubts about Weiss, a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for Delaware who has been investigating Joe Biden’s son for the past five years.
Weiss was appointed as special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday — a move that gives him more day-to-day oversight independence than before, and is intended to dispel any suggestion that Weiss was supported by the White House.
Still, Turner told CBS News Sunday morning that he had no confidence in Weiss’s commitment to the cause.
“The concern here with Weiss as special counsel is that he was the one who allowed the legal restrictions to expire on some very critical felonies that could have been brought against Hunter Biden,” Turner said.
Mike Turner, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on Sunday he was concerned about David Weiss’s appointment as special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden.
Turner appeared on CBS News’ Face The Nation Sunday morning
Weiss was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday as special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden. Pictured is Hunter Biden with a woman
Asked by Face The Nation host Margaret Brennan why Weiss would have left Hunter Biden off the hook, Turner said an IRS whistleblower — who testified that Weiss was taking the case slowly — told them so.
Turner said the IRS whistleblower told them it was Justice Department interference.
“There’s some doubt whether or not it’s plaintiff’s misconduct, but it certainly could be plaintiff’s misconduct,” Turner said.
“In any case, if you’ve been instructed to deal with such explosive claims and let the statute of limitations expire, resulting in — you know, Hunter Biden has $125,000 in taxes in his pocket that was owed to the United States which, because these have expired, remain in his pocket.’
Brennan questioned his claim, asking why “a President Trump-appointed U.S. attorney who works under a Republican Attorney General with career prosecutors” would have “that level of conspiracy”?
Turner replied, “I think those are questions he needs to answer. Do you know why did this happen?
“The IRS whistleblowers said it was Justice Department interference that allowed them to expire.”
He added: “So he was definitely aware, aware that it was going to end. And then something happened that caused him to let it expire.’
House Republicans continue to investigate Hunter Biden and his possible criminal history, as well as whether his father, President Joe Biden, is connected to those alleged crimes.
David Weiss (pictured) is a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for Delaware who has spent the past five years investigating Joe Biden’s son
Hunter Biden pictured himself leaving a California office building in August. In July, he pleaded not guilty to charges of failing to pay more than $100,000 in taxes owed on more than $1.5 million in income in 2017 and 2018
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty in July to charges of failing to pay more than $100,000 in taxes owed on more than $1.5 million in income in 2017 and 2018.
He has not pleaded a separate case in which he is charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm while using illegal drugs, which is a felony.
Top Democrats hoped that a plea deal between Hunter Biden and Weiss would have allowed the president to put his son’s legal troubles behind him and delegate the matter to Republican-led congressional investigations.
But a federal judge declined to accept a proposed plea deal, and Weiss said in a lawsuit Friday that talks between the two sides have since broken down.
A possible trial raises the possibility of an unprecedented spectacle in US history: The son of a sitting president faces criminal charges as his father campaigns for re-election, likely against Republican Donald Trump, who himself faces at least three upcoming criminal trials go.
Republicans have accused the elder Biden of profiting from his son’s business ventures in Ukraine and China, though they have yet to provide any evidence of wrongdoing.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy said in July that the chamber could launch an impeachment inquiry in the fall.
Half of Americans believe Hunter Biden received preferential treatment from prosecutors trying to negotiate a plea deal, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found in June before the plea deal fell apart.
But most Americans said Hunter Biden’s plea deal didn’t affect their chance of voting for Biden next year, the poll found.