Pair of legal bombshells here in washington today that could have huge ramifications for the 2024 election. Last hour, attorney general Merrick Garland announced a federal prosecutor who is raiding hunter biden has been Special Counsel, at his question. David weiss requested the status change. Garland did grant that. This comes just a few hour after trumps lawyers and Special Counsel prosecutors appeared for the first hearing in the election interference indictment. A key ruling could come down at any moment. Were on top of this. Lets star with the hunter biden news. Kara, tell us about this special appointment. Merrick garland announced this a little less than an hour ago, that david weiss, overseeing the investigation into hunter biden, requested Special Counsel on tuesday. Garland said he agreed to grant that. What this Special Counsel status means is david weiss, the u. S. Attorney for delaware, will have authority to investigate this case anywhere in the u. S. Thats been an issue, because hunter biden lives in california. One of the issues having to do with this investigation is his failure to fay taxes, and thinks tax preparer was in washington, d. C. So this gives him broad scope. Hell put together a report at the end of the investigation provided to garland. That report is expected to be made public, so there will be more transparency in this investigation, which has been under fire by House Republicans who have presented testimony from i. R. S. Whistleblowers who have said they were stopped from pursuing certain investigative leads. This all comes about after hunter biden had reached a plea deal, appeared in federal court in delaware late last month, but the deal fell apart in real time, with the judge asking a lot of questions about the scope of the deal. He was expected to plead guilty to to the misdemeanor tax charges, and reach an agreement with diversion on the gun charge. The prosecutors noted that the parties had given bidens team under today to say where they stood on their negotiations, and that they asked for an extension until monday, which doj was not willing to grant. Now the deal is in at that timers, and the investigation is continuing. Hunter bidens lawyers say they do expect at fair resolution. They think its hard to see what other offenses could be charged against hunter biden outside of the tax charges, because that is what they believe are the only provable offense that is doj could bring, but of course thats up to the department of justice. This investigation has been going on for five years. Theyve looked at everybody from foreign lobbying to Money Laundering charges. Now, anything is on the table as this Investigation Continues. That deal, kara, has fallen apart. We should note david weiss was nominated and confirmed by the senate until president trump. Hes been elevated now to Special Counsel, which gives him more independence from the doj, but specifically what powers will he now have . You touched on it briefly in terms of his ability to investigate nationwide, but go into more about what his poutser will be as Special Counsel, as opposed to attorney in delaware. He can bring a case in any other district hi chooses, he doesnt have to ask permission for that, but also, over the past several years, the appointments of several counsel, whether it was robert mueller, or if it was, you know, some of the other ones including jack smith, it does give them a far reach to investigator wherever they want. They can issue is that, call people to testify, bring charges anywhere and seek grand juries anywhere they see fit. Theyre also not under the daytoday oversight of the department of justice. Theyre really given an independent way to move forward. Now, if the attorney general does not agree with, say, a Charging Decision that jack smith wants to make, he could weigh in, and that would become public. That would go to chronic. So it is supposed to be someone who is fully dependent, and can make these decision without going through the chain of command. Given the criticism from some republicans that lunter biden was getting a special deal, he was being treated differently, this will give the assurance theres greater independence here, separate from the justice depa department, which is under the biden administration. Kara, if you were stand by, i want to get to the white house, where Arlette Saenz is. Whenever something developed with the department of justice, the white house obviously going to painstaking degrees to try to stay out of it. They dont generally get a headsup on this kind of thing. What are you hearing from the white house . Reporter this is the same case in this matter as Merrick Garland appointed he was appointing a Special Counsel. A white house spokes heron declined to the comment on the matter, instead referring me to both the Justice Department and Hunter Bidens personal representatives, but a white house official did tell me they did not receive a headsup ahead of the announcement. This is consistent to what we have seen when the white house deals with the other Justice Department investigations that have been launched, whether related to classified documents or this case relating to the president s son hunter biden. But the expected plea deal that hunter biden had initially struck with the department of justice, the bidens had hope that was an opportunity to turn the page from what has been a very dark chapter of the familys history, but that matter was put on hold after the plea deal fell apart in the Delaware Courthouse just last month. Now, the bidens have really taken Great Lengths to not weigh in on these matters. Earlier in the summer, when the expected plea deal was announced, the president and his wife telegraphed their support for their son through a statement from a white house spokesperson, saying they continue to support hunter biden and why not be appointing of commenting further. Its clear this is a new phase for president biden, who has sustained or facing sustained pressure from republican lawmakers about his son hunters Business Dealings. Theres also a threat about Impeachment Inquiries into president biden, so we might see further reaction from the white house, which so far said they did not have any heads up. Capitol hill is exactly where we have to go next. Arlette, stay with us. Lauren fox is on the hill. Republicans how would when they learned of the plea deal. They were also asking for repeatedly a Special Counsel in this probe. Now david weiss has been elevated to Special Counsel. What are you hearing from republican lawmakers . Alex, its still not easing republicans, that theres some kind of Sweetheart Deal for the president s son. They present that without clear evidence, but one thing early sentiments were getting is this just simply cant be trusted. Here is one republican, a spokesman for the committee, russell dye, who says david weiss cant be trusted, and this is a new way to whitewash the biden family corruption. Weiss signed off a plea deal that was so awful and unfair a federal judge rejected. We will continue david weiss was in negotiations with the House Committee to potentially appear before them in september. As my colleague jeremy erb pointed out in recent reporting is that the view is that could be complicated, in part because a Special Counsel would not typically testify before congress as an Investigation Continues and is ongoing. That is one of the key questions here. The other is how does this impact the way republicans are viewing opening a potentially impeachment inquire. We have seen a number of republicans including Kevin Mccarthy inching closer and closer, stopping short of actually making the announcement of opening that inquiry, but certainly this Will Add Fuel to the calls for many conservatives that its time to begin that investigation. Lauren, why dont republicans trust david weiss . He was appointed by former President Donald Trump in 2017, he was confirmed by a republicanled senate. You just had an associate of hunter biden testifying that hunter biden was selling some sort of illusion of access to his father, and now you david weiss, where idoesnt end in a plea deal. It would keep going, and no doubt looking to the foreign dealings of hunter biden. Why dont republicans trust david weiss . Reporter theres a long back in conversations with republican members, they believe they cant trust david weiss, because they have heard from Level Blowers who have said that david weiss had asked for a Special Counsel, was denied a Special Counsel, but then in a letter to lindsey graham, david weiss refuted in a, saying he never asked to be appointed Special Counsel in this investigation. So there is a back and forth going on for months. This is not a new relationship. Their argument is they trust the whistleblowers, they dont trust the Justice Department. Lauren fox, thank you so much. I want to bring in former federal prosecutor christy greenburg. Your initial reaction to this news . Well, its not surprising, given the fact there has been so much talk about the need to transparency, and the fact that the plea deal now we have learned has fallen apart, that there would be a Special Counsel who is able to potential follow leads outof what the investigation has already yielded, and, again, will generate a report. So that need for transparency about how this case was investigated and what the conclusion and resolution of it are should hopefully allay some concerns bop how the investigation was conducted and the terms being reached. It is surprising that a deal has fallen apart. Kristy, to that point, are you surprised that after the judge rejected this plea deal and the parties they went back into negotiations that they werent able to find another pathway, come up with another deal and now saying they have reached an impasse and, quote, a trial is in order . Are you surprised this is going to be going to trial . I am. Again, the Misdemeanor Tax Offenses, these are offenses particularly when somebody has failed to pay their taxes, but ultimately has paid it back, you know, those often are not cases that get prosecuted by misdemeanors at all if the taxpayer has made his obligation whole. So it was, i think, an aggressive charge to bring the misdemeanor charges, but they had settled on that. My guess is there was some sense from Hunter Bidens attorneys that there would be an agreement to perhaps cover additionalsh that he could no longer be prosecuted, or at least that may have part of the negotiations. If you look at this statement thats come out about the Special Counsel appointment, what theyre saying is we can investigate other things, other districts, and bring potential charges in other districts, so it sounds like at least what part of the impasse is, is the fact that maybe hunter biden wasnt going to get the coverage for other conduct outside of delaware that he was looking for. Thats what i would suspect is going on here, bull, again, you know, its hard to say until we get more of the facts. To that point, kristy, aside from the tax misdemeanors, the gun crime, looking at the foreign dealings, where do you expect this to go with that . And how long is this going to go . Obviously this is all happening through a political lens as well, as Hunter Bidens father is running for reelection. So the gun charge is also surprising. The charge here is for possession of a gun while being a drug user. Typically when you have individuals who have Drug Addiction problems, they seek some type of alternative resolution, a deferred prosecution or nonprosecution agreement, given their Drug Addiction. As a former federal prosecutors, i saw many of those kinds of applications. Certainly ones Drug Addiction would be factored in appeared considered whether or not a prosecution of a potential Felony Charge would be appropriate. A lot of times those nonprosecutions and deferred prosecutions would be granted in those circumstances. Again, it seems to be far from the Sweetheart Deal that republicans were making it to be. As far as the foreign dealings, thats an interesting question. The investigation has been going on for over four, five years. One would expect that if there was a there there, that the u. S. Attorney would know about it. Im not sure how much more investigation really needs to be done if the plea has fallen through, maybe they have evidence of other potential criminal conduct in other districts theyre now looking to explore, you know, if truly there cant be a plea here. Kristy, the attorney for hunter biden chris clarke made a similar point. This is a quote its hard to see if the plea deal were proposed if there were other offenses he could have successfully prosecuted. So how do you think the Hunter Biden Legal Team is feel with what lies ahead of them . Its interesting, now theres a Special Counsel appointment, theyll be waiting to see if there are other potential charges. If there were, Money Laundering, for example, or other corruption charges, those would be more serious than a Misdemeanor Tax Offense or a Felony Gun Charge while being a drug user where they recommended pretrial diversion. So if there was evidence they had accumulated in the investigation for improper foreign dealings and Money Laundering, i would have expected this request would have come already, would have come before there was any plea. So, again, it seems unlikely that they have that kind of evidence, but, you know, well just have to wait and see. Do you see any miscalculations here on the part of hunter biden for not just putting this to bed on the part of Merrick Garland for letting it get to this point . What do you think . I think its hard to say. Again, i think a lot of what theyre trying to do in their calculus is put the entire thing to bed. If his lawyers dont have any kind of, you know, assurance in a Plea Agreement that other offenses that are in some way connected to his Business Dealings are also not going to be prosecuted, i can see his lawyers having some pause in entering into any agreement that doesnt account for the entire dope of criminal conduct that may be under investigation. It is a bombshell in this case. Resetting it, really. Kristy greenberg, thank you for breaking it down for us, and thanks to our correspondents as well. A catastrophic loss of life, and fears that the death toll will only grow, hawaii is beginning the grim task of searches for bodies in the scorched ruins of lahaina on maui island. With thousands left without shelter, the federal government is are youing to help provide food and water for survivors. Well have the details ahead. Chevy silverado has whwhat it takes to do it all. With up to 13 camera views. And the z71 offroad package. You ok . Yeah. Any truck can help you make a living. 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