Turley weighs in on appointment of Hunter Biden special counsel
Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley joined 'Outnumbered' to discuss the latest from the Hunter Biden investigation and statements made by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley joined "Outnumbered" on Friday immediately after Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a special counsel for the Hunter Biden investigation. The constitutional law professor called the appointment of David Weiss a "chilling moment" for Hunter Biden, but argued the move should have been made years ago. He said the appointment could "certainly" slow down Congress' investigation into the Biden family's business dealings.
JONATHAN TURLEY: I was not surprised, but I was not nearly as delighted as I would have been two years ago when many of us were calling for this appointment. They waited for the appointment of a special counsel after the statute of limitations has run on critical crimes, like the tax violations in 2014, 2015. They waited until Weiss himself was accused of slowing or suppressing efforts. At least the whistleblower suggested that he was not able to pursue cases and didn't aggressively push back on that. So there's going to be a lot of questions here if this is occurring as Congress is moving aggressively to pursue some of these issues. This new status can certainly slow that process down.
Rep. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky and chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, left, speaks during a hearing in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 8, 2023. (Anna Rose Layden/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Weiss was at the top of the list of Congress to be brought in to explain why did you allow the statute of limitations to run? Why were Biden people tipped off about raids? Why was there an interference with investigators in trying to interview Hunter Biden? All of those questions are now likely to be delayed before they are answered. The other thing that I noticed was not in this announcement was a special counsel to look into the Biden corruption scandal. He referred to Hunter Biden, once again, Garland has constantly been carefully framing this issue as only Hunter Biden. … Congress is looking at a much broader and more significant corruption scandal here. A special counsel would be useful in pursuing that, but that doesn't sound like the mandate that Merrick Garland just gave Weiss.
Attorney General Merrick Garland was scolded by MSNBC’s Chris Hayes. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
"I'm here today to announce the appointment of David Weiss as a special counsel consistent with the Department of Justice regulations governing such matters. In keeping with those regulations, I have today notified the designated members of each House of Congress of the appointment," Garland said at a press conference in Washington, D.C.
Weiss is the federal prosecutor who has investigated the business dealings of Hunter Biden and brought charges against him in Delaware. His appointment as special counsel indicates that, contrary to Hunter's defense lawyers' claims, the Justice Department investigation into President Biden's son is not over.
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