Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday that the Trump-appointed US attorney who is investigating Hunter Biden has been given ā€œspecial counselā€ status.

This gives the senior prosecutor, David Weiss, more powers than a typical US attorney and puts the nation in uncharted territory ā€“ with three special counsels at the Justice Department currently investigating matters related to the sitting president, his son, and the previous president.

Garlandā€™s order appointing Weiss said he is authorized to ā€œconduct the ongoing investigation ā€¦ as well as any matters that arose from that investigation or may ariseā€ as the probe continues.

A senior Justice Department official said Weiss will write a report, which the attorney general is expected to publicly release when the probe is over. This has been the common practice of special counsels in recent years, like Robert Mueller and John Durham.

Weiss made a request to be elevated to a special counsel on Tuesday.

  • aseriesoftubes@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    As someone who voted for Biden in 2020, and will do so again in 2024, this is a good thing. Elevating this Hunter business to the level of a special counsel investigation takes away the Rā€™s nonsense ā€œweaponization of governmentā€ argument. Iā€™m confident that the investigation will show this whole thing is a nothingburger.

    Edit: Itā€™s only a matter of timeā€¦

    • jeffw@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Eh, theyā€™ll still call it weaponization and say it was biased no matter what. Itā€™s good for history books, but wonā€™t stop GOP talking points

      • aseriesoftubes@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I know youā€™re right. I just hope that the verdict from the Court of Public Opinion doesnā€™t align with GOP talking points.

    • Poob@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      You could have Trump himself leading the investigation, and conservatives would still say itā€™s rigged and biased

    • Vlhacs@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      Iā€™d like to share your enthusiasm, but anything short of a full conviction with jail time will mean maga idiots will start screaming ā€œtwo tier justice!ā€

      • SmashingSquid@notyour.rodeo
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        1 year ago

        I expect the best weā€™ll get is him having a heart attack during one of his temper tantrums from all of the court cases. Which will somehow be blamed on the deep state.

    • dudinax@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      The Republicans know you can appoint a SP whoā€™s in the tank. Thatā€™s what they do, why shouldnā€™t Garland?