Attorney General Merrick Garland recently named a special counsel to oversee the Department of Justice’s investigation into Hunter Biden – and the reasons behind the collapsed plea deal – but one law expert says that appointment looks to be in “clear violation” of regulations that theDOJ has.
Appearing on the “Mornings with Maria” program on Monday, Alan Dershowitz, a law professor emeritus at Harvard University, commented on the appointment of U.S. attorney David Weiss as the special counsel in the case:
“It’s illegal. The regulation provides clearly that special counsel have to come from outside the governor for good reason. What’s so special about a special counsel is that he doesn’t have to answer to the present administration. He’s independent.
“But, if you have somebody who serves at the pleasure of the attorney general, and obviously as the U.S. attorney serves his pleasures [as] part of the administration, that person shouldn’t be serving. It’s in clear violation of the regulation itself.”
If Dershowitz is correct, this would be just the latest lapse in judgment that the DOJ has displayed in the entire Hunter Biden ordeal. Embarrassingly, the sweetheart plea deal that federal prosecutors struck with the president’s son’s legal team that would’ve seen him avoid jail time on all charges collapsed in a matter of minutes in a Delaware court last month.
After that happened, Garland decided to appoint Weiss as the special counsel to oversee the investigation into Hunter Biden’s various business dealings.
To Dershowitz’s point, though, Weiss was already the head of the prosecution team in the gun and tax charges that were levied against Hunter Biden.
In commenting on the appointment, Garland said that he spoke to Weiss directly, who said 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.”
The idea of having a special counsel in this case is certainly something that would be welcomed by just about everyone. After all, a special counsel has the power to bring charges against people in any jurisdiction, which is apparently something that hampered Weiss in his investigation before he was named special counsel.
Yet, the fact that Weiss was the person who was appointed the special counsel is what is drawing the criticism of Dershowitz, and the ire of many Republicans, who say that the DOJ is operating under a system of two-tiered justice.
For his part, Dershowitz agreed with the Republicans who criticized Weiss’ appointment, saying that there’s something off about it. He said:
“What I would have liked to find out is what David Weiss actually did, not what he was authorized to do. What did he actually investigate? Did he look into Burisma? Did he look into Ukraine, China, or did he merely satisfy himself by looking at the gun charge, which is a minor misdemeanor, and looking at the two tax charges? I think it was the wrong person to pick for this job.”
