Attorney General Merrick Garland's appointment of Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss to serve as special counsel in the Hunter Biden criminal probe is raising alarm with some legal experts who say it explicitly violates the Justice Department's regulations requiring such appointments come from outside the agency.
That regulation states: "An individual named as Special Counsel shall be a lawyer with a reputation for integrity and impartial decisionmaking, and with appropriate experience to ensure both that the investigation will be conducted ably, expeditiously and thoroughly, and that investigative and prosecutorial decisions will be supported by an informed understanding of the criminal law and Department of Justice policies. The Special Counsel shall be selected from outside the United States Government."
"I mean, the Attorney General is not allowed to appoint David Weiss as Special Counsel under federal regulations, and I have them right here in front of me, CFR 600.3. The Attorney General can only appoint somebody, quote, 'outside' the government."
Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and Special Agent Joseph Ziegler testified that Weiss was hamstrung from bringing charges against the first son due to the interference of two U.S. attorneys where he sought to bring the charges.
Former federal prosecutor and Trump adviser Kash Patel said on "Just the News, No Noise" Friday that "[T]he Special Counsel is supposed to be an outsider, not brought in from within DOJ, and especially not the guy who has a conflict of interest in investigating the target, Hunter Biden, when he gave him an illegal, unconstitutional plea deal... How can that man be conflict-free, which is what the regulation requires at DOJ? They've put a conflict czar in there to cover up Wray and Garland's unlawful activities.
In October 2020, then-Attorney General William Barr tapped then-Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham to serve as special counsel while investigating the origins of the now-debunked Trump-Russia collusion narrative.
Cummins also described the Weiss appointment as "Lipstick on a pig.' Weiss is a politicized prosecutor who has already demonstrated he is a disgrace to the authorities entrusted to him. Suggesting he has magically been transformed into an independent actor is a ridiculous sham. He is literally the reason a Special Counsel should have been assigned years ago. At this point the serious charges cannot be brought due to Weiss's intentional lack of initiative. The only thing gained now by pretending he wears a new hat is to throw a blanket of silence over the whole affair until Thanksgiving 2024."
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