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Ben Weingarten

Federalist Senior Contributor; Claremont Institute Fellow

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Opinion

Is Biden and DOJ conflict an act to protect the administration?

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Ben Weingarten

Federalist Senior Contributor; Claremont Institute Fellow

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Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed David Weiss as special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden after his plea deal fell apart. Without a plea agreement, the Department of Justice’s case against Biden’s son may be headed for a criminal trial.

Straight Arrow News contributor Ben Weingarten wonders whether the DOJ’s recent decisions are aimed at shielding the Biden administration through a cover-up rather than genuinely pursuing legal actions against Hunter Biden.

The infighting between the parties will make what comes next look more legitimate than when DOJ and Team Biden were buddy-buddy. What if DOJ extends its “ongoing investigation” for months, however? Will additional statutes of limitation lapse? Will there be a freeze on the prosecution — keeping a lid on Biden family corruption and DOJ’s cover-up of it if it runs close to the 2024 election?

What’s to preclude a future global immunity deal? If no settlement is reached, what will Hunter be charged with, and where? 

Would DOJ really set him up to lose? Will it be more aggressive now, having already laid its lenient cards on the table before shifting the Overton window? Ask yourself, “What’s the materially least damaging, but optically smartest play for Biden’s DOJ?” That may tell us what comes next.

A funny thing happened en route to Joe Biden and his Justice Department getting off scot-free for the corrupting and compromising Biden family international influence peddling operation built on Joe’s name and bagmanned by his son, that the DOJ has sought to cover up.

 

Courageous IRS whistleblowers and a hero Delaware judge blew up their best laid plans.

 

Today the DOJ and Team Biden have no settlement. 

 

Charges may be forthcoming outside of Delaware. 

 

The Delaware U.S. Attorney leading the prosecution, David Weiss, has been elevated to special counsel, allowing him to bring those charges. 

 

Once seemingly joined at the hip, DOJ and Team Biden are sniping at each other in court.

 

Has this conspiracy to protect the regime come unglued?

 

Or is this all a ruse, with the fix still in?

 

For five years the government has been “investigating” Hunter Biden. 

 

The DOJ let statutes of limitations lapse; stalled activities around elections; investigators tipped off Hunter Biden’s camp to an interview, clamming him up; they thwarted search warrants and approaches, and hid pivotal information from IRS agents; prosecutors prevented the pursuit of leads to Joe; they ignored FARA and other more serious potential crimes. 

 

They systematically obstructed the investigation.

 

When Hunter’s tax fraud and evasion issues were too glaring to dismiss, either on the merits or because doing so would enrage prosecutors and investigators with integrity – but still less serious than other alleged crimes – USA Weiss brought charges in DC and California.

 

Biden-appointed U.S. attorneys rejected the charges.

 

By January 2023 the case was seemingly dead.

 

Notwithstanding reports Hunter Biden’s defense attorney had, in August 2022, threatened that if prosecutors brought certain charges, they’d face “career suicide,” DOJ seemed intent on doing the Bidens’ bidding.

 

Then the IRS agents miffed over the sham investigation and non-prosecution entered the scene. 

 

Having raised their issues with other agencies, when they saw AG Merrick Garland testify before Congress that Weiss had had “full authority” to bring cases outside Delaware, in contradiction of what Weiss had told them, they were incensed and came forward to Congress.

 

The Biden DOJ opened settlement talks in May – the same month the whistleblowers testified before Congress.

 

The DOJ announced a plea deal in late June – two days before the release of the whistleblowers’ interview transcripts, which they likely knew were coming.

 

The whistleblowers seemingly forced their hand – to save face and “protect the institution.”

 

Of course they brought a total sweetheart, sham plea deal, with a contrived pretrial diversion agreement containing a global immunity get-out-of-jail-free card provision.

 

They thought it’d be rubber-stamped.

 

But when Delaware Judge Maryellen Noreika provided basic scrutiny in court in July, her questions about the unprecedented structure and substance of the deal caused it to collapse.

 

The key sticking point was a difference in interpretation between the DOJ and Team Biden about the scope of the global immunity provision, hidden in the pretrial diversion agreement the judge wasn’t supposed to touch.

 

With the parties at an impasse, on August 8, David Weiss supposedly asked for special counsel authority.

 

Three days later, he was granted it – again seemingly contradicting what AG Garland had testified about Weiss’ super powers. 

 

Of course this wasn’t all above board: Garland tabbed Weiss special counsel in violation of DOJ regulations calling for such a prosecutor to be independent, from outside the government – not for the fox to guard the henhouse.

 

That same day, DOJ moved to dismiss the Biden case over the impasse, saying the government was “considering what tax charges to bring in another district” [presumably California, since the statutes of limitation had run out on the Burisma-related tax crimes in D.C.].

 

Now the parties appear to have turned on each other – Hunter Biden accusing his Dad’s DOJ of reneging on the plea agreement, claiming the Biden camp’s expansive view of the immunity provision was accurate, and that it is still valid and binding. 

 

The DOJ disputes all of it.

 

Surely Team Biden might be apoplectic about losing immunity for the time being.

 

But could the apparent rift – including the DOJ’s sudden adversarial about-face – be for show?

 

The way the Biden DOJ has operated, it seems it has two interrelated objectives: Protect itself; and relatedly, protect Joe Biden (including vis-à-vis Hunter).

 

Making Weiss special counsel creates the appearance of empowering him to bring charges wherever found, blunting claims he’s a paper tiger. 

 

DOJ will likely try and stonewall Congress’ oversight of the probe, citing the “ongoing investigation.” 

 

Weiss can draft a final report as special counsel to whitewash DOJ’s actions.

 

Tristan Leavitt, whose Empower Oversight, represents IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, speculates that while Weiss may bring tax charges in California, making him special counsel “allows the Biden administration to claim…charges with more legs to hurt the Bidens are put to bed.”

 

“[A]ppointing him as special counsel,” Leavitt says, “was an extremely effective way for DOJ to box this all up and quell calls for an independent investigation into” the whistleblowers’ allegations.

 

The infighting between the parties will make what comes next look more legitimate than when DOJ and Team Biden were buddy-buddy. 

 

What if DOJ extends its “ongoing investigation” for months? 

 

Will additional statutes of limitation lapse? 

 

Will there be a freeze on the prosecution – keeping a lid on Biden family corruption and DOJ’s cover-up of it – if it runs close to the 2024 election?

 

What’s to preclude a future global immunity deal?

 

If no settlement is reached, what will Hunter be charged with. 

 

Would DOJ really set him up to lose – will it be more aggressive now having already laid its lenient cards on the table before, shifting the Overton Window?

 

Ask yourself, what’s the materially least damaging, but optically smartest play for Biden’s DOJ? 

 

That may tell us what comes next.

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