Rep. Ken Buck: Hunter Biden won’t be fairly investigated under US attorney, only special counsel
Colorado Rep. Ken Buck, House Judiciary Committee member, reacts on ‘America’s Newsroom’ to the latest developments on the alleged Hunter Biden email scandals.
President Biden and the Justice Department have asked U.S. attorneys appointed by former President Trump to resign from their posts by the end of the month, Fox News has learned.
A senior Biden administration official told Fox News Tuesday that 56 U.S. attorneys have until Feb. 28 to resign.
"We are committed to ensuring a seamless transition," Acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson said in a statement. "Until U.S. Attorney nominees are confirmed, the interim and acting leaders in the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices will make sure that the department continues to accomplish its critical law enforcement mission, vigorously defend the rule of law, and pursue the fair and impartial administration of justice for all."
The Justice Department said that earlier this year, "nearly all presidential appointees from the previous administration offered their resignations, though U.S. Attorneys and U.S. Marshals were asked to temporarily remain in place."
The DOJ said that before the beginning of the transition process, approximately one-third of the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices were already led by acting or interim leadership.
The Justice Department said that the president will make an announcement regarding nominations to the Senate "as that information becomes available."
The U.S. attorneys will begin transitioning out of their roles, with the exception of the prosecutor overseeing the federal tax investigation into Hunter Biden, David Weiss for Delaware. John Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, will resign from his position as U.S. attorney but will stay on as special counsel to continue his now years-long investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe.
US ATTORNEY HANDLING HUNTER BIDEN PROBE ASKED TO STAY ON, OFFICIALS SAY
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday was asked about Weiss and Durham, and said that those "decisions were made in order to fulfill his promise of maintaining independence."
A well-placed government source told Fox News that Hunter Biden is a subject/target of the grand jury investigation. According to the source, a "target" means that there is a "high probability that person committed a crime," while a "subject" is someone you "don't know for sure" has committed a crime.
The source also told Fox News that this investigation was predicated, in part, by Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) regarding suspicious foreign transactions.
Another source familiar with the investigation told Fox News that the SARs were regarding funds from "China and other foreign nations."
The investigation, according to a source familiar with the matter, began in 2018.
Fox News has also learned that the Justice Department wants acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin to leave his post at the U.S. Attorneys’ Office in D.C., but to transition to main Justice to serve in some type of special prosecutor capacity to continue overseeing the Capitol breach investigation.
Sherwin has had oversight of the prosecutions stemming from the Capitol riot on Jan. 6.
Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin speaks during a news conference Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, in Washington. Federal prosecutors are looking at bringing "significant" cases involving possible sedition and conspiracy charges in last week’s riot at the U.S. Capitol. (Sarah Silbiger/Pool via AP)
Sherwin has vowed to "bring the most maximum charges we can based upon the conduct."
Overall, federal authorities have charged more than 150 people in the Capitol siege.
Last week, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, urged acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson to "refrain from interfering" in Durham’s investigation and the federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s "tax affairs" while the Senate works to confirm Biden’s nominee to lead the Justice Department.
The Senate is currently processing the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the position of attorney general.
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