(Headline USA) Special counsel David Weiss slammed Hunter Biden’s legal team this week for trying to get the federal cases against the embattled first son thrown out.
Biden’s lawyers argued in a court filing last week that Weiss’s federal tax case, and the illegal firearm purchase charges on which Hunter was already convicted, should be dismissed, claiming Weiss was illegally appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
They cited a recent federal ruling dismissing special counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case against former President Donald Trump, which found that Smith had been illegally appointed by Garland.
There is no legal parity in the situations, since Weiss was already approved by the Senate in his capacity as U.S. Attorney prior to his special counsel appointment. Smith’s came from entirely outside the Justice Department ecosystem.
However, that didn’t prevent lead lawyers Abbe Lowell and Mark Geragos from attempting the longshot gambit.
“Based on these new legal developments, Mr. Biden moves to dismiss the indictment because the Special Counsel who initiated this prosecution was appointed in violation of the Appointments Clause as well,” Biden’s legal team argued in the filing.
“The Attorney General relied upon the exact same authority to appoint the Special Counsel in both the Trump and Biden matters, and both appointments are invalid for the same reason,” they claimed.
Weiss’s office shot back, arguing Hunter’s lawyers “invented” reasons to dismiss the charges against the first son.
“These statements continue to be misleading by suggesting that United States Attorney Weiss failed to take action against the defendant until after he became special counsel,” Weiss’s team said in a filing of their own, according to the New York Post. “That is patently incorrect.”
Judge Mark Scarsi, who is overseeing Weiss’s tax-fraud case against Hunter, also accused Hunter’s lawyers of falsely representing Weiss’s position and threatened to sanction them over the false claims.
There is a “meaningful distinction” between Trump’s case and Hunter’s case, Scarsi argued.
“But Mr. Biden’s motion does not engage with this distinction; instead, counsel avoids the issue by misrepresenting the history of the proceedings,” he wrote. “This Court has little tolerance for lack of candor from counsel … These statements … are not true, and Mr. Biden’s counsel knows they are not true.”
Scarsi has rejected three prior bids by Hunter’s team to have Weiss’s tax fraud case.
