Hunter Biden, in Wilmington, Delaware, in late July. JONATHAN ERNST (Portal)
Republicans scored a point this Friday thanks to an own goal — or excessive eagerness to show fairness — by the Justice Department. US Attorney General Merrick Garland has said David Weiss, the federal prosecutor who filed criminal charges against President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, will be given additional powers to investigate whether the president’s son is involved in business dealings. Irregular, as Republicans denounce. “Weiss’ appointment reinforces the Department’s commitment to the American people [de Justicia] with independence and responsibility in particularly sensitive matters,” Garland said at a press conference in Washington. After the appointment was made public, Weiss said Hunter Biden could be prosecuted.
Garland’s promotion of District Attorney David Weiss to special counsel or counsel comes at a time when Republicans in Congress are threatening an investigation and possible impeachment of the president on the grounds that he profited from his son’s dealings. There is no evidence to support the claim, but his campaign against Hunter Biden is intensifying as his leader, Donald Trump, piles on the accusations. Republicans are decrying the double standard of the Justice Department, which they say has been benevolent – so far – towards Hunter Biden but is adamant about the 2024 re-election candidate, who has racked up three indictments in four months.
Those close to the former Republican president have reacted with skepticism to the appointment of the special counsel to oversee the investigation into Hunter Biden. In a statement, the Trump campaign, the favorite candidate in the Republican primary for the 2024 presidential election, responded that the Biden family had been “protected by the Justice Department for decades.” “If this special prosecutor is truly independent – even if after a four-year investigation he has failed to bring the relevant charges and appears to want to move the case elsewhere.” [tribunal] more pro-democratic — will quickly conclude that Joe Biden, his troubled son Hunter, and their accomplices, including the media, colluded with the 51 Secret Service operatives who knowingly misled the public [ordenador] Hunter’s laptop, you must face the consequences,” the statement said.
Hunter Biden’s laptop as evidence for the prosecution is another argument by Republicans denouncing the double standard of justice. The President’s son brought a laptop for repairs and never picked it up at a repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware, the family town. The store owner made a copy of his hard drive and shared the information with Donald Trump’s allies. It contained tens of thousands of text messages and emails and more than 2,000 photos, including some with sexual content. The existence of the computer and some apparently compromised messages for Joe Biden became public in the midst of the 2020 campaign when the New York Post published them. The then Democratic candidate attributed the spread to a Russian disinformation campaign.
Unlike Garland, who was appointed by Biden, Weiss was appointed federal prosecutor for Delaware — the state where the case against Hunter Biden is being investigated — by then-President Trump, but retained his position during the Democratic administration. His appointment as attorney or special prosecutor gives him more autonomy than federal prosecutors typically enjoy.
As recently as two weeks ago, Hunter Biden’s pact with prosecutors to avoid jail time was in limbo amid doubts by a Trump-appointed judge. Under the terms of the deal, the president’s offspring was to plead guilty to two recognized tax offenses — non-payment of taxes — to avoid a more serious charge of illegal gun possession while he was addicted to drugs. Doubts about the extent of the judge’s immunity caused the agreement to temporarily collapse, while calls for her father’s impeachment grew in the Republican faction of Congress. The very blocking of the case prompted Garland to give Weiss more powers over the investigation.
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Republicans have accused Biden of profiting from his son’s businesses in Ukraine and China, but have offered no evidence. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said last month that he could start an impeachment trial in the fall, on the eve of the official start of the 2024 primary.
“Crazy Conspiracy Theories”
The White House has dismissed these allegations as “crazy conspiracy theories” and has reiterated that Biden was not involved in his son’s deals, which he developed when he was vice president to Barack Obama. Weiss’ years of investigation have found no evidence that Hunter used his father’s political influence to his own advantage, as Republicans denounce.
Hunter Biden, 53, a lawyer by training, worked as a lobbyist, attorney, consultant and investment banker before turning to great success as a painter – his paintings have fetched $500,000 – before reinventing himself A dark stage of alcohol and crack addiction sparked by the death of his brother Beau from a brain tumor in 2015, according to his memoir.
It was Weiss who accused Hunter Biden of failing to pay taxes in 2017 and 2018 and of illegally owning a firearm during his drug addiction, a crime more serious than prosecutors and punishable by prison. But the deadlock on Biden’s deal with prosecutors was suspended due to the judge’s objection, giving Republicans more arguments to ramp up their attack on the Bidens.
Weiss is the third quasi-independent prosecutor Garland has hired to oversee politically sensitive investigations. Best known is Special Attorney Jack Smith, who was appointed in November to oversee two investigations of a political nature into Trump, backed by two indictments: in June over the Mar-a-Lago papers and on August 1 over his attempts to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election, which culminated in the attack on the Capitol in January 2021. In the case of the classified documents, Trump himself and his assistant Walt Nauta on Thursday pleaded not guilty (not guilty) to the three counts that Smith added to the original 37 charges for his attempt to destroy CCTV footage that investigators are requesting. Trump has pleaded not guilty to every single open count, all three criminal and other civil cases.
The third and least known of Garland’s appointed special counsel is Robert Hur, who is investigating whether Biden mishandled classified documents after he left the vice presidential post in 2017. Secret documents were also found in the possession of Mike Pence Vice President. by Trump.
According to an Ipsos poll conducted in June for Portal, half of Republicans and 33% of Democrats believe Hunter received preferential treatment from Weiss, who asserts that the Justice Department has not interfered at all with his job. Most respondents say this will not affect their election in 2024.
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