A top House Democrat conceded Sunday that President Joe Biden’s son did a “lot of really unlawful” things after the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it named a U.S. attorney to head a special counsel investigation into the matter.
“David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware, who had been nominated by Donald Trump, can make the decisions about what to charge, where to charge and when to charge,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told ABC’s “This Week.” “And with the collapse of the plea agreement that he had apparently worked out with Hunter Biden, now he wants to be certain that he’s got the authority to go bring charges wherever he wants.”
Hunter Biden, he added, “did a lot of really unlawful and wrong things” and was, at one point, addicted to drugs. However, Republicans in the House are “not saying that about” former President Donald Trump without elaborating.
Mr. Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware, was tapped last week to be the special counsel in the investigation. Meanwhile, Mr. Biden has pleaded not guilty to tax charges.
“From my perspective, it is the rule of law and the justice system working itself out the way that it does and, obviously, it’s bumpy, and this side or that side doesn’t necessarily prefer this course of events,” Mr. Raskin said on Sunday. “But our job, I think, as political people is to allow the justice system to run its course.”
While there was an announcement weeks ago that a plea deal was made between Mr. Biden’s lawyers and prosecutors, that fell apart. Last week, prosecutors wrote in court filings that they were at an impasse with his attorneys over any deal.
“I don’t know what factors went into the calculus to appoint [Weiss as special counsel]. Obviously, there had to be some public interest rationale for it. The material change in circumstance that I can discern is simply the collapse of the plea agreement,” Mr. Raskin said on Sunday. “But when that agreement appeared to evaporate, then I suppose they wanted to formalize that the U.S. attorney for Delaware had the authority that he needed in order to prosecute the case. And, certainly, there was political pressure being brought on it, which I don’t approve of myself. I think it’s not our job as politicians to be second-guessing and trying to micromanage.”
