Sen. Ted Cruz called Attorney General Merrick Garland’s elevation of U.S. Attorney David Weiss to special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden a “cover-up” and “disgraceful.”
This comes after a federal judge refused to approve the plea deal Weiss struck with Hunter Biden’s attorneys, which Republicans called a “sweetheart deal.”
Garland announced the move on Friday, which he claimed would grant more independence to the prosecutor, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
“The Special Counsel will not be subject to the day-to-day supervision of any official of the Department, but he must comply with the regulations, procedures, and policies of the Department,” Garland said. “Consistent with the Special Counsel regulations, at the conclusion of Mr. Weiss’ work, he will provide me with a report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached by him.”
Cruz (R-TX) went on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures to explain his belief that Weiss has been acting to shield the Bidens.
“Well, this appointment is camouflage, and it’s cover-up,” Cruz said. “I think it’s disgraceful. Listen, David Weiss was the U.S. attorney hand-picked to lead this investigation, who spent the last five years covering it up,” Cruz said.
“For five years, the investigation has gone nowhere — other than to protect Hunter Biden and Joe Biden,” Cruz declared.
“David Weiss is the one that is subject to two whistleblower complaints from senior career IRS officials who came forward. They said they’d never seen an investigation like this in their entire time in law enforcement. … They said the Department of Justice — lawyers working for David Weiss — protected the Biden family. That they gave heads up to Hunter Biden before search warrants were executed presumably so that he could hide incriminating evidence,” Cruz added.
Cruz also said that the whistleblower claimed the lawyers working for Weiss protected Joe Biden by refusing to allow questions about the president during the investigation.
“David Weiss either was an active participant in covering up this criminality and protecting Joe Biden in … engaging in obstruction of justice. That’s option one. Or option two, he wasn’t the driver. He was just complicit. He was so weak that he couldn’t stop the partisans in main justice from turning it into a political effort to protect Joe Biden. Either case, he is a wildly inappropriate person to be a special counsel.”
Democrats disagreed with Cruz’s assessment.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the majority whip and chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said:
“Attorney General Garland has committed to avoiding even the appearance of politicization at the Justice Department, and his appointment of a Special Counsel in this matter demonstrates that commitment yet again. … U.S. Attorney David Weiss is a distinguished prosecutor, and I trust that the Justice Department’s professional, nonpartisan approach will carry on as the Special Counsel continues his investigation,” reported Reuters.
Kyle Herrig, director of the Congressional Integrity Project, an advocacy group “committed to exposing the reality behind Republicans’ politically motivated oversight and investigations,” stated:
“House Republicans’ opposition to Trump appointee David Weiss’s appointment as special counsel is nothing more than another political stunt. After months of calling for this, their dismay makes clear that they will stop at nothing to weaponize Congress to interfere with an ongoing investigation and harm Joe Biden,” reported The New York Times.