Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., joined fellow congressional Republicans to request the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden.
Biden, son of Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden, announced this week that he is under federal investigation for tax fraud — which Cotton said barely scratches the surface of illegalities he likely committed.
Cotton said tax fraud is “the least damaging part of the investigation.”
Politico later reported the federal government is also investigating Hunter Biden’s past foreign ties and business dealings for potential money laundering.
“Allegations of securities fraud, money laundering related to Hunter Biden’s Chinese businesses, a crooked hospital deal with Jim Biden, Joe Biden’s brother out in western Pennsylvania — These investigations span multiple jurisdictions,” Cotton said.
“If Joe Biden becomes president then all of those prosecutors are in line to be fired next month. If there were ever circumstances that created a conflict of interest and called for a special counsel, I think those circumstances are present here,” Cotton said. “The Biden family has been trading on Joe Biden’s public office for fifty years. Do we really think that that will change if Joe Biden becomes president, the highest office in the land?”
Joe Biden will be entering office while his son is the subject of multiple federal investigations, Cotton noted.
That means a President Biden could dismiss the investigations, or fire the prosecutors in charge of them. An independent special counsel would be much harder to terminate politically.
Several other congressional Republicans echoed Cotton’s concerns in a letter to Attorney General William Barr.
“This investigation is critical to defending the integrity of our republic and ensuring a potential Biden Administration will not be the subject of undue foreign interference,” Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., wrote in the letter.
“Americans have the right to know whether Mr. Biden’s reported ties to foreign governments will make him the subject of blackmail attempts or other nefarious efforts to undermine U.S. national security or otherwise improperly influence American foreign policy,” the letter continued.
