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Weiss appointment as Hunter Biden special counsel violates DOJ regulations, experts warn
Just the News ^ | 8/12/2023 | Ben Whedan, Natalia Mittlestadt

Posted on 08/12/2023 8:47:16 AM PDT by Signalman

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."

Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz told the Just the News, No Noise television show Friday night he believed it was a mistake for Garland to name the current Delaware U.S. attorney, both because he was from inside the government and had approved an earlier plea deal for Hunter Biden that spared the first son from prison but was rejected by the trial judge and panned by many as too lenient.

"Someone else, without a doubt, would have followed the regulations of the department, which [is to] say that the person has to be from outside the government," Dershowitz said. "I surely wouldn't have appointed a man from Delaware, where there's a lot of homecooking that goes on -- the Bidens live in Delaware -- who made a sweetheart deal that I predicted on your show would not be accepted. And he's going to want to justify that sweetheart deal. So he's not going to want to admit that he did anything wrong."

Others agreed.

"I see this as a farce, more cover up and corruption by Merrick Garland, and he's covering his own behind," Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett said on The Sean Hannity Show. "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."

Weiss, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, has been pursuing an investigation into Hunter Biden for four years, according to the orders released Friday night that appointed him. His probe has allegedly been hindered by political interference, according to two IRS agents who came forward as whistleblowers. 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..

The whistleblowers contended that Washington D.C. U.S. Attorney Mathew Graves's opposition to the charges prevented Weiss from being able to bring charges before the statute of limitations expired. Weiss, they say, subsequently sought special counsel status to bring the charges anyway, but Garland allegedly rejected that request. In recent letters to Congress, Weiss has disputed that testimony, which undercut Garland's claims the Delaware prosecutor had the power to bring any changes anywhere he wanted.

"If it's in another district, he would have to bring the case in another district," Garland said in a June Senate hearing in response to questions about Weiss's charging authority. "But as I said, I promise to ensure that he's able to carry out his investigation and that he'd be able to run it. And if he needs to bring it in another jurisdiction, he will have full authority to do that."

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 [FBI Director Christopher] Wray and Garland's unlawful activities."

Weiss's appointment marks the second possible violation of this guideline in recent years. 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.

Former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas Bud Cummins told Just the News on Friday, "The requirement to appoint an attorney from outside of government appears so clear that one must suppose DOJ has conjured some way to work around it in the cases of both Durham and Weiss."

"It really looks like an assignment under 600.2(c) where you really don't appoint an independent special counsel, you use the same players but just make a few internal adjustments about supervision and reporting ('appropriate steps be taken to mitigate any conflicts of interest, such as recusal of particular officials.') If that's the case, calling him a 'Special Counsel' is inaccurate and deceptive," Cummins added.

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."


TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: biden; bidencosanostra; bidencrimefamily; corruption; doj; dojweaponized; hunter; hunterbiden; justthenews; specialcounsel; trumppersecution; weiss
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To: FlingWingFlyer
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/28/600.3

When I first looked at this I thought it was Council on Foreign Relations, but no, it means Code of Federal Regulations.

"Laws? We don't need no steenking laws!"

we don't need no stinking badges

21 posted on 08/12/2023 9:11:36 AM PDT by ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas (Re-imagine the media!)
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To: Signalman

Make the opposition play by their own rules.

David Weiss CANNOT be appointed to the position so long as he cannot represent both sides of the investigation, but must be completely OUTSIDE the purview of the Department of Justice, or Just-Us, ort Injustice, or whatever

As a disinterested party, I would suggest Jonathan Turley. Even though he is a known liberal, he respects the Constitution and the rule of law in a way few other liberals or “progressives” now do.


22 posted on 08/12/2023 9:16:40 AM PDT by alloysteel (Take back the rainbow. Its use by LGBTQ is cultural misappropriation.)
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To: All

Is violating a CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) the same as violating federal law?

Yes, violating the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is generally considered a violation of the law in the United States. The CFR is a compilation of the general and permanent rules and regulations established by various federal agencies to implement and enforce the laws passed by Congress. These regulations have the force of law and are legally binding.


23 posted on 08/12/2023 9:20:59 AM PDT by Signalman
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To: Signalman
My Four year old grand daughter took one look at the news and said:

" IT's A TOVER HUP !"

And Garland and Biden both think there is not a single thing that can interfere with it.

Now is the time for in the street protests against Weiss and Garland....go after them and their friends at restaurants, protest at their homes,bang drums all night long ,sh*t on their lawns etc.

24 posted on 08/12/2023 9:26:42 AM PDT by Candor7 (( Ask not for whom THE Trump trolls...He trolls for thee!)<img src=""width=500></img>)
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To: Signalman

People who stole the presidency, who appointed and control the DOJ might all be violating “regulations”? Dayam if this kind of thing keeps up it could eventually become SERIOUS!


25 posted on 08/12/2023 9:29:23 AM PDT by TalBlack (We have a Christian duty and a patriotic duty. God help us.)
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To: Signalman

...explicitly violates the Justice Department’s regulations requiring such appointments come from outside the agency.


This is on purpose. This gives Hunter a way to get any findings tossed on technicalities.

The Democrats are experts at playing this game.


26 posted on 08/12/2023 9:46:22 AM PDT by CIB-173RDABN (I am not an expert in anything, and my opinion is just that, an opinion. I may be wrong.)
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To: Signalman

When did the democrats ever follow the law


27 posted on 08/12/2023 9:49:14 AM PDT by butlerweave
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To: joshua c

you might as well ask the mafia to play by the rules

\/

Or pelosi’s dad.

Apparently he schooled her well .

Mobocracy is her middle name imho.


28 posted on 08/12/2023 9:52:13 AM PDT by cuz1961 (USCGR Veteran )
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To: cuz1961

The whole Uniparty should just read up and start a 3rd party called the

Mobovcatic Party


29 posted on 08/12/2023 9:53:29 AM PDT by cuz1961 (USCGR Veteran )
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To: Signalman

Garland didn’t appoint someone independent from outside the government because he didn’t want to risk having the Supreme Court rule the appointment illegal on the grounds that the outside attorney was not confirmed by the US Senate.

A special counsel can exercise the same powers as a US Attorney.

But all US Attorneys must be confirmed by the US Senate.

Courts have winked at this in the past, but it is possible the Supreme Court might look at the substance of the appointment and rule that if an outside person is clothed with the powers of a US Attorney, then that person must be confirmed by the US Senate.

By appointing someone who is a sitting US Attorney and has already been confirmed by the US Senate, the choice of the special counsel doesn’t have to be agreed upon with Senate Republicans, who might demand someone who will actually do a real investigation and prosecution.

Barr did the same thing with Durham. Technically, they are not appointed under the independent counsel regulations, but rather are simply an existing US Attorney delegated a special task by the Attorney General, but are instructed to follow the independent counsel regulations as if they were an independent counsel.


30 posted on 08/12/2023 9:54:02 AM PDT by Meet the New Boss
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To: cuz1961

The whole Uniparty should just fess up and start a 3rd party called the

Mobocatic Party

( boy, autocorrect kicks my arse )


31 posted on 08/12/2023 9:54:31 AM PDT by cuz1961 (USCGR Veteran )
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To: Signalman

Ok, it might be a scam, but the loser offspring of ‘white liberal elites’ have to earn ways to live in mansions on IQ’s of 105 and without any skills beyond sucking up to their indulgent if somewhat delusional ‘parents’... So if Hunter gets taken down what does that mean for the rest of the private school stupid ones? So Hunter must be saved... just ask CNN’s Smerconish.


32 posted on 08/12/2023 9:57:56 AM PDT by GOPJ (Companies that only advertise on MSNBC but won't advertise on FOX or NWSMX are 'bud light' companies)
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To: Andy from Chapel Hill

No.

This is not a regulation as the article says but a law passed by Congress.

The law says the special counsel must come from outside the government (which in the Hunter case the counsel comes from the government).

The same law says you cannot sue over the special counsel.

So there is nothing that can be done about it.

The only thing I can see is to challenge the law itself in the Supreme Court.

Yes it’s twisted. The government is bound by law but can’t be held accountable for breaking it.


33 posted on 08/12/2023 10:20:09 AM PDT by packagingguy
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To: Signalman

And so?


34 posted on 08/12/2023 10:22:32 AM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: Signalman

The whole purpose of having both a tweedle dee and and tweedle dum is so that dee can invesitgate dum with no conflict of interest ... except they are both tweedle.

This appointment violates that basic tenet of the swamp.


35 posted on 08/12/2023 10:23:01 AM PDT by spintreebob (ki .h Tg)
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To: joshua c

Exactly, as if these evil pricks spend one spend one second thinking about whether this breaks any rules. The only consideration is “will this get Biden out of the soup”. Not that it’s an actual problem when the entire media establishment has gone into full protect mode.


36 posted on 08/12/2023 10:24:08 AM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: Basket_of_Deplorables

did he resign to make this happen?


37 posted on 08/12/2023 10:34:19 AM PDT by Sacajaweau ( )
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To: All

since 2014-2015 has rolled off the statute of limitations, a house select committee can investigate Hunter for crimes committed in that period and should do that soon in order to build a fire underneath weiss in the court of public opinion.

(will the house do so?)


38 posted on 08/12/2023 10:40:44 AM PDT by SteveH
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To: Signalman

Oh, we’re being “warned”?

Really on top of it, there, Paul Revere.


39 posted on 08/12/2023 10:47:26 AM PDT by Fido969 (45 is Superman! )
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To: Signalman

The Constitution, the law or even its own internal regulations do not matter to this corrupt DOJ under Garland.


40 posted on 08/12/2023 10:49:20 AM PDT by falcon99 ( )
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