Attorne Attorney GeneralMerrick Garland announcing he will give david weiss Special Counsel status to investigate the president s son. Hello and welcome everyone, im sandra smith. Gillian, great to have you back. Gillian this is America Reports. Garland says weiss told him he wanted to be given Special Counsel status to continue his probe into hunter biden. This after insisting for months that step was not necessary. Sandra the timing of this announcement is certainly being highlighted at this hour, and raising Big Questions about how the probe will intersect with a separate congressional investigation. And a Draft Plea Deal between hunters attorneys and weiss thats currently being reworked. Gillian Lindsey Graham as well as house ways and Means Committee chair jason smith are both here to react. Sandra mark meredith, live at the Justice Department at this hour for us. Why did the attorney yes decide to do this and decide to do this now, mark . Sandra, good afternoon to you. The u. S. Attorney general Merrick Garland says its because the u. S. Attorney asked for one, david weiss, the u. S. Attorney in delaware, appointed by former President Trump to handle this job. He says he needed Special Counsel status Going Forward and garland decided to grant that in a matter of days. This is a Blockbuster Development and a lot of questions Going Forward how long the probe is going to continue. But at the same time as we were learning about the Special Counsel designation, there was a court filing which made it clear that the u. S. Attorney, david weiss, now Special Counsel weiss was unable to reach a Concrete Agreement On A Potential Second Plea Deal or future agreement, meaning this is a case over taxes and a gun charge that is now likely going to go to trial and not likely happening in the state of delaware, which of course this was originally going to be taking place. We in washington have gotten used to Special Counsels being appointed the last couple of years, but this one will be fascinating because it involves the president s son, a president ial election at the same time and you mentioned at the top of the show, ongoing congressional probe to the way the u. S. Attorney was conducting his work. We have heard from whistleblowers who said they felt their work was hampered, they were not allowed to look at all aspects of this case. The Attorney General says the public will get an idea what was going on behind the scenes. What he had to say in the last hour. An this appointment confirms my commitment to provide mr. Weiss all the resources he requests. It also reaffirms that mr. Weiss has the authority he needs to conduct a thorough investigation and to continue to take the steps he deems appropriate independently based only on the facts and the law. Now, one of the Big Questions of course is what will Hunter Bidens legal team decide to do next, whether or not they will try to fight this and prolong this case, it will drag on for the next several months if not the next year, and the upcoming president ial election. The white house has made it clear they are going to stay away from this as possible say they were not interfering with the Probe Involving First Son hunter biden. We even got the white house to announce for the first time two weeks ago there will be no pardon of the first son if he were to be convicted on the charges, especially now that its heading to trial. The real focus is also on the u. S. Attorney david weiss, who republicans were certainly interesting to see where he was going going into that Plea Agreement, but obviously they scoffed after the agreement was shut down by a federal judge saying they felt weiss was giving a Sweetheart Deal to the first son. However, we are hearing from some Congressional Republicans who say they are not happy weiss is the Special Counsel, they argue he cant be trusted and i would imagine well be hearing a lot more about the testimony from the whistleblowers who were on the hill last month talking about their work, take a listen what one of them had to say testifying before congress. That was not the case. It appeared to me based on what i experienced the u. S. Attorney in delaware in our investigation was constantly ham strung, limited and marginallized by doj officials as well as other u. S. Attorneys. I still think that a Special Counsel is necessary for this investigation. So as you just heard right there, one of the two irs whistleblowers saying he believed a Special Counsel was needed but i would imagine he would not think it was going to be the u. S. Attorney who he was just talking about, david weiss, saying he felt there was handcuffs on him, that he was not able to do the job effectively. Whether or not we will see additional testimony from the whistleblowers on the hill has yet to be seen, and david weiss was getting ready to talk to congress either in september or october. The Justice Department was going to allow that to happen. That would be put on hold because the Special Counsel work would be ongoing. Likely asked to testify if not forced to testify and as the Attorney General mentioned there will be a report but as to when that will come out, before, during, after the election, wait to find out. Sandra bear with us a second, mark, a lot of Breaking News, a lot of reaction to what we have just learned over the past hour or so. James comer, the rep leading the investigation in the house, the hunter biden investigation, has just issued a statement, make sure our viewers see and hear this. This move by a. G. Garland, comer says, is part of the Justice Department efforts to attempt a biden family coverup in light of gop mounting evidence of President Bidens role in family schemes, selling the brand for millions of dollars to foreign nationals. This also just in, too, read directly from our own david spunts email, that the doj has dropped hunters Plea Deal Case in delaware, mark. Reading from it directly, the u. S. A. Is moving to drop it completely, hunters team has until monday to respond. It was an oral order, and no later than noon august 14th, file a response to the United States 25 motion to vacate the courts briefing order. David also noting this trial cannot take place in delaware per the filing, possibly in california or d. C. Mark, a lot to take in here. Sandra, absolutely. And it was very clear that they were already at an impasse before today between the federal prosecutor, david weisss office and hunter biden and the courtroom in delaware, everybody was shell shocked it was falling apart in realtime. The judge said come back to the Drawing Board in a couple days. The filing indicates there was no agreement able to be reached between Hunter Bidens attorney as well as the legal team in delaware, now Special Counsel david weiss. Another x factor is where, like you mentioned, where is this going to take place. Jurisdiction, california, d. C. , we have to wait to see. I would imagine because of where hunter biden was living at the time. Maybe somebody would be able to clarify that a little further, maybe thats why hes choosing the jurisdictions and also the prolongness of the case, there is going to be hearings, filings, so you imagine, sandra and gillian, how its going to play out in realtime, with iowa caucuses, and the New Hampshire primary closer and closer. White house not expected to address this on camera, there is no white house briefing. The president is getting ready to head out of town for the weekend instead and i would imagine the white house would simply defer all questions to Hunter Bidens legal team which they have done in the past. As i mentioned, we had a chance to ask the white house a few weeks ago what happens if the first son is convicted on any charge, would President Biden then consider a pardon and the white house issued a flat no, that was not a possibility in their eyes. Whether or not we are going to see additional comment from the white house is still yet to be seen. Gillian i know you are at the Justice Department today, we are used to seeing you more regularly at the white house. Can i ask you to put that cap back on for a moment. Do you think its going to be sustainable messaging strategy for the White House Communications team to continue deferring questions regarding this now Special Counsel investigation all to the department of justice or do you think at some point here the president , by virtue of the fact he is Hunter Bidens father, is going to have to make some kind of a comment to address this new reality . You bring up a great point, gillian. Yes, i think President Biden at some point would have to give additional comments, but likely in an interview or passing to reporters, going to the helicopter. As for the white house, they have set the standard saying we are not going to talk about this so if they were to change their position, people like the Press Secretary and the White House Communications office that would be telling. Maybe the other x factor is whether or not Congressional Democrats are willing to stay with the white house here. We have heard from a number of them that made it clear they feel the process was being handled properly, that they had faith in the u. S. Attorney out in delaware, david weiss. Remember, the Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer said he had full confidence in david weiss to get his job done. Hearing from Congressional Republicans no dice, they dont have any belief david weiss would get the job done even though he was apointed by President Trump to get to this position. And will we see potential pushback on whether or not he would be challenged for the democratic president ial nomination, so far hes faced two challengers but they are polling very low. Whether or not this would recreate the fire of whether hes going to be challenged further is yet to be seen. But the president is just getting ready to head out on the Campaign Trail, a huge swing out west, at a Campaign Fundraiser last night. The Biden Campaign was likely thinking it was going to be behind them. As of three weeks ago a plea deal where it was all going to go away and that is no longer the case. Gillian, if i had a crystal ball i would try to figure out when will the trial take place, a finality to any of this, and immediate pushback from the republican president ial candidates saying its happening while the voters are trying to make up their minds. Gillian if you figure it out, mark, let us know when the trial is going to be. Sandra thank you so much. Gillian, bring in house ways and means chairman jason smith joining us now. Thank you so much, sir, for joining us and jumping on the Breaking News with us. First, what is your reaction to it . Its great to be with you, sandra. I think that this should be concerning to all americans this is an attempt to whitewash the biden family corruption. Mr. Weiss is the single architect over that sweetheart Plea Agreement deal that the judge in delaware threw out just a few weeks ago as saying it was awful and unfair. There were provisions in that Sweetheart Plea Deal that granted complete immunity to hunter biden for these crimes and future crimes and she even stated that shes never seen anything like that before. And who was the architect of that . Now the person who, garland, who President Bidens Justice Department just appointed to be Special Counsel. I am very fearful that appointing this Special Counsel is just an attempt to stone wall congresss investigation of the biden family. Sandra that is a remarkable reaction. Byron york says this, does it seem somewhat strange garland apointed the guy who had the Sweetheart Deal who is now the Special Counsel . And this moment happened in the press Briefing Room not long ago when asked if the president would consider pardoning his son. Listen. Is there any possibility that the president would end up pardoning his son . No. I just said no. I just answered. Sandra hard no, july 27th. A lot has changed since then. Well see what we hear from the white house. They said they had no heads up on this announcement from garland ahead of it happening today. What do you expect we will hear from the president . Let me just say, the president said he would not pardon his son. But this is the same president who several years ago said he knew nothing of his sons Business Dealings and then after the ways and Means Committee released the public testimony of the two irs whistleblowers that proved differently, the president came out with the statement saying he was not involved with his sons Business Dealings. The only thing that has changed over the last several months are comments from the biden family. Our irs whistleblowers have been consistent and they are the ones that were brave to come forward to release all this information. Sandra the republicans have been calling for Attorney GeneralMerrick Garland to tap a Special Counsel to investigate the president s son. As you well know, congressman, for quite some time, but i imagine you did not want weiss. Well, like i said, he was the architect of the Sweetheart Deal that the federal judge in delaware threw out. Of course you wouldnt want them. The irs whistleblowers and their statements to our committee highlighted how throughout the process under weisss leadership of prosecuting hunter biden that they saw where the Justice Department was delaying the investigation so much that the statute of limitations expired for the crimes of 2014 and 2015. The where they divulged information to Hunter Bidens lawyers to give them a heads up of Search Warrants they were going to do the next day, and also our whistleblowers highlighted where mr. Weiss said that he was denied the ability to bring charges in california, d. C. And also a Special Counsel. However, weiss has given us multiple statements to congress, two different letters, to jim jordan and one letter to Lindsey Graham and all three of them are saying something differently. Sandra Jonathan Turley said something similarly, the problem of weiss as Special Counsel despite the testimony of the whistleblowers, for those irs agents seems like sending Shoeless Joe Jackson back to the game after telling him say it aint so, joe. And tom cotton, dismiss charges, no doubt a liberal judge will rubber stamp a Sweetheart Deal. First weiss said he didnt have the power he needed as Special Counsel status, then he has all the power he needs, now he gets Special Counsel status because he didnt really have the power he needs . Somethings not right, says jim jordan in a tweet just now. Congressman. Jim is completely right, sandra. It should alarm any americans, the fact that we have uncovered over 20 million that has came to the biden family and its all because of the brand according to devon archer, and the brand is joe biden, the biden name. Why would all these foreign entities give money to hunter biden o