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We are funded by these Television Companies and more, including comcast. You think this is just a Community Center . No, it is way more than that. Comcast is partnering with a thousand Community Centers to create wifi enabled centers so kids can be ready for anything. Announcer comcast supports cspan as a Public Service along withhese other television providers. Giving you a front row seat to democracy. Host yesterdays elevation of david weiss to special counsel in the hunter biden case came as a surprise. Not a surprise was to both independence and accountability that was doubted by key republicans. Where will the hunter biden investigation go from here . How will the Biden Campaign respond . Will the mounting legal troubles of hunter biden and donald trump obscure other issues and candidates in the 2024 president ial race . It is saturday, august 12, 2023. Good morning and welcome to washington journal. Those questions and more about the announcement of the special counsel. We would like to hear your thoughts. 202 7488001 is the line to call for republicans. It is 202 7488000 for democrats. For independents and others, 202 7488002. You can send us a text at 202 7488003. Tell us your name and where you are texting from. We will also look for your comments on facebook and twitter, cspanwj. We will give you the chance to hear all of Merrick Garlands brief comments from yesterday. We will look at some analysis and update where the investigation is now. And we will hear from you on the hunter biden at best occasion and the announcement of david weiss as special counsel. 202 7488001 is the republican line. 202 7488000 the democrat line and 202 7488002 for independents and all others. This is the hill special counsel named. Four things to know and we will touch on one of those. Attorney general Merrick Garlands move to elevate david weiss to special counsel in the hunter biden investigation sits against the backdrop of multiple gop investigations. It puts the focus back on two irs whistleblowers and comes as a plea deal has evaporated. Garland made the announcement friday and was met with republican\and printing backlash and of questions. The hill writes the attorney generals announcement comes as the House Republicans intensify multiple probes into issues surrounding hunter biden, which were fueled by testimony from two irs whistleblowers, who criticized how weiss and the department of justice handled the investigation. They claim the Justice Department slow walked the hunter biden investigation, gave him preferential treatment, and declined to pursue charges in california and washington, d. C. Where there were stronger evidence. The whistleblowers also alleged weiss was denied special counsel status. Both weiss and garland have denied doing so, saying if he desired special status, it would be approved. David weiss was named yesterday in an afternoon News Conference for Merrick Garland. Heres with the attorney general had to say. [video clip] in the july 2023 letter to congress, mr. Weiss said he had not asked for special counsel. On tuesday mr. Weiss said his investigation have reached a stage at which he could continue his work as special counsel and he asked to be so appointed. Upon considering his request and the extraordinary circumstances related to this matter, i have concluded it is in the Public Interest to appoint him as special counsel. This appointment confirms my commitment to provide mr. Weiss all the resources he requests. It reaffirms mr. Weiss has the authority he needs to conduct a thorough investigation and continue to take the steps he deems appropriate independently, based only on the facts and the law. Mr. Weiss will also continue to serve as u. S. Attorney for the district of delaware. As special counsel, he will have the authority and responsibility he has previously exercised to oversee the investigation and decide where, when, and whether to file charges. The special counsel will not be subject to the daytoday overseeing by the department but he must comply with the regulations. Consistent with regulations, at the conclusion of mr. Weiss work, he will provide me a report explaining the decisions reached by him. As with each special counsel who has served since i have taken office, i am committed to making as much of his or public as possible, consistent with legal requirements and public policy. Todays announcement affords the prosecutors, agents, and analysts working on this matter the ability to proceed with their work expeditiously and to make decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law. The men and women undertaking this investigation are Public Servants who have dedicated their careers to protecting the citizens of this country. The appointment of mr. Weiss reinforces for the American People the departments commitment to both independence and accountability, and particularly, sensitive matters. Host some of the announcement yesterday by attorney general Merrick Garland on appointing david weiss as special counsel in the hunter biden investigation. Leading the republican side in the house has been james comer, chair of the Oversight Committee, who tweeted yesterday saying that the move by the attorney general is part of the Justice Departments efforts to attempt a biden family cover. In light of the gops mounting evidence of President Bidens role in his familys schemes selling the brand for millions of dollars to foreign nationalists. 202 7488001 is the line for republicans. 202 7488000 for democrats. Independents and others use 202 7488002. Lets go to new york and hear from rob on the democrats line. Caller good morning. Thank you for cspan. Bill, you are one of the best. Thank you. As far as hunter biden is concerned, my feeling is that there may influencing matters that arise. But i feel it is nickels and dimes when we spend millions on this investigation. I hate to sound like a broken record but the issues with Jared Kushner and billions of dollars from the saudis and his wife, the ivanka trump with her chinese patents and her ability to do business there when others could not, and the huge sums of money. If you are going to spend money on an investigation, it should be money that comes back to the taxpayer. The fortunes that the kushner and trump family were able to extract from the saudis and the chinese is mountains compared to these nickels and dimes. With hunter biden i think the american taxpayer deserves a return from issues like this. Thank you again. Keep on keeping on. Host timothy in saint augustine, florida on the republican line. Caller how are you this money . Host fine. Caller good. I was a former u. S. Treasury official and i am very disappointed at the decision made. During my tenure we prosecuted criminals in nearly threeyear or sixyear statute of limitations. We went back 13 years and were persecuted if we allowed the statute of limitations to expire. This has never, ever happened before and im disappointed in the decisions. Host you are disappointed in the decision to announce the special counsel . Or are you disappointed in the investigation itself . Caller both. It is very disappointing to see how some people cannot use the law how it should be. Host lets hear from robert on the independent line in maryland. Caller good morning. All this is is a direct violation of the law. They have done this for the simple reasons the last caller brought it up running out the statute of limitations. Mr. Weiss already let the statute run out on tax charges. You have witness testimony that backs this up. That is their intent. The statute of limitations is coming up now. The second thing that benefits them is when they are subpoenaed to come in front of congress now their testimony will be, we cannot comment. We have an Ongoing Investigation that they could run for infinity. Certainly past the president ial election. It is pretty obvious what they have done. Why the media is so stupid not to realize they are being manipulated on a daily basis. But the reasons for what they did is what i said. They do not have to answer any questions for subpoenas. Host let me ask you, do you think now with the appointment of weiss there were calls for additional charges in california and here in washington, d. C. Does this open the ability for the department of justice to bring forth those charges, which they have already investigated and said they could not bring up charges . Caller i believe the evidence will show they will run out the statute of limitations on these cases past the president ial election and will not testify in congress. Look at the Bank Statements from hunter biden and joe biden. Joe biden has committed treason. He has sold out this country and that is the bottom line and they are doing everything in their power to cover it up. This government is crooked. This election is rigged. This is a rigged system and the American People need to realize that. Host crystal is in pennsylvania, democrats line. Caller good morning. I remember the trump followers or the republicans used to say it was a nothing burger. That is the way i feel about the hunter biden thing. I did not vote for hunter biden. I do not really care if hunter biden is convicted of any crime that he committed. I do not have a problem with that. However, what the republicans are trying to do is mix hunter biden with joe biden and they are different. If hunter biden calls his father while he was in a meeting, so what . That is the way i feel. I have nothing to say about hunter biden. I voted for joe biden. They voted for trump. Trump is a criminal. Joe biden is not a criminal. They keep coming up with all of these accusations about how joe got money and they cannot come up with a witness. Every witness they had has said, no, he was not involved. Host this is the hill story we touched on earlier. Some of the elements in the aftermath of the special counsel, the headline, republicans rip special counsel move despite previous calls. Some republicans pushed garland to appoint a special counsel in the hunter biden case with many signing a letter saying weiss should be elevated to that role. But in the wake of fridays announcement republicans raise alarms about how a special counsel could interfere with their own investigations. Here is a tweet from the House Speaker himself, kevin mccarthy, saying this action by the doj cannot be used to obstruct congressional investigations or whitewash the biden family corruption. If weiss negotiated the sweetheart deal that cannot get approved, how can he be trusted as special counsel . House republicans will pursue. We will get more from other members of congress as well. We will go to tom in bethlehem, pennsylvania. Make sure you mute your volume and go ahead with your comment. Caller ok, fine. Good morning. Host good morning. Caller the investigation and everything that is going on in washington with hunter biden is only a smokescreen to protect the biden family corruption brand. Host how so . Caller if it were you and i and we got millions of dollars from a foreign country and the people negotiating this, mainly hunter biden, was not allowed to do that would you consider me legitimate, honest . No, you wouldnt. Why would we consider hunter biden legitimate or honest . If my father was president and he decided, well, i think i am going to do everything i can to obstruct the investigation of my son because he is the major key to my biden family corruption and the ability to spread the money around through the family, why would i prosecute him . I would put everything in there to stop that. That is why mr. Weiss has been elevated. Host that is toms view reflecting that of the trump campaign. Spokesperson saying crooked joe biden, hunter biden, and the Biden Crime Family have been prd for decades, even though there is overwhelming evidence and credible testimony detailing their wrongdoing of lying to the ameri people, selling out to foreign enemies r the bidens cartel own gain. If the special counsel was truly independent, although it appears he failed to proper charges after a fouryear investigation, and appears to be moving this to a democrat from theue, he will quickly conclude joe biden, his son hunter, and the media, which colluded with the 51 intelligence agents who misled the public about hunters laptop, should face the consequences. That from the trump campaign. Doug on the democrats line. Go ahead. Doug in florida, you are on the air. One more time, doug on the democrats line. John in east hampton, massachusetts. Caller this is hilarious. I am an independent. Anybody can say that trump stunk, great, but biden stinks. How did the bidens get money . The underage bidens get money to sell out the country. Why do they hide the money . Why did they need to put it in offshore accounts . Everybody talked about Jared Kushner. He had something that he did and he got the money legitimately. There was not 170 fars put out on him during that time. It is so funny that everybody sees the devil in trump but they see nothing wrong with joe biden. He is a great family man and loves his family. Where did the money come from . We are tracing it down and Everyone Wants to say there is no connection to joe. Treason and bribery does not need to be paid directly to the person, it can be paid to the family. But nobody cares about that. Everybody wants to complain about donald trump. Maybe they can get a vaccine for donald trump host greg is on the democrats line. Caller won was the last time special counsel was appointed to investigate a private citizen . It reminds me of why would they not investigate trump . They were running money through his hotel in downtown washington, d. C. I invite joe biden to set up a hotel, run through that, and i invite him to tell the republicans just like the republicans and trump did when the democrats were investigating trump for the impeachment. Host talking about the announcement yesterday by attorney general Merrick Garland and the appointment of attorney david weiss in the special as special counsel in the hunter biden investigation. 202 7488001 is the line for republicans. Democrats, it is 202 7488000. Independents and oers, 202 7488002. On the Judiciary Committee senator Lindsey Graham reacting to the announcement. [video clip] this is a political decision, not a legal decision. They are trying to put out a fire and they poured gasoline on it. Nobody in their right mind making him special counsel cleans up the mess that has been created. If it were not for the house of representatives, we would not for we would not know any of this. On october 7, 2022, the whistleblower says, i was in a room where my mr. Weiss told me the decision to bring charges and where to bring charges, he was overruled. It was not decision. On june 7 he writes a letter of this year to jim jordan saying i have all the authority i need. He writes one to me and said i could have all the authority i need. This does not pass the smell test. They tried to give hunter biden a deal no other american would get. The judge asked hard questions, the plea agreement blew up, and to think the guy that wrote the plea agreement is seriously going to continue to investigate the bidens is laughable. The guy that wrote the plea agreement did it in a fashion to give hunter biden the biggest break in american legal history. Does anybody in their right mind trust the weiss team to continue to fairly and impartially investigate the hunter biden, joe biden matter . I dont. Host reaction from senator Lindsey Graham. His colleague on the Judiciary Committee, senator dick durbin, democrat of illinois, with this reaction. A statement after the appointm david weiss. Attorneyal garland has committed to avoiding even the appearf politicization at the etment and his appointment of the special counsel demonstrates that commitment yet again. In President Bidens decision to keep david weiss on in delaware when he wan in stands in stark ct to former President Trumps repeated efforts to use the justice departntnd attorney general as his personal lawyer. David weiss is a distinguished prosecutor a trust the justice departmens professial nonpartisan approach will carry on as the special counsel continues his investigation. Rich is calling from ohio on the republican line. Welcome. Caller interesting conversations. It seems that the bidens needed approval for foreign negotiations that everyone else has and go to jail if they do not have it. The second one is our Justice Department has certain rules and rigths and obligations. In order to get special counsel they cannot set a special counsel outside the government. I do not know how they can have that right to set up a counsel not outside of government. The problem is inside the government you have all kinds of funny things that happened, like any organization. I do not know how you jump that legal line. Maybe the