Jordan, GOP seek details in Hunter Biden investigation

House Republicans are asking the Justice Department to lay out the scope of the Hunter Biden investigation after prosecutor David Weiss was appointed as a special counsel in the matter. 

Weiss, the U.S. Attorney for Delaware who has been leading a five-year investigation into Biden, was appointed as special counsel earlier this month after a plea deal in the case fell apart.

But GOP lawmakers who previously called for the appointment of a special counsel in the matter have opposed Weiss’s elevation, suggesting that the matter should have been handed to an outside figure.

“It is not clear why you have only now, after the investigation has been going on for five years, opted to appoint Mr. Weiss as special counsel, especially after you and the Department represented that Mr. Weiss already had ‘ultimate’ authority over the case,” House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote in a letter also signed by House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.).

The letter asks Attorney General Merrick Garland for all documents and communications relating to Weiss’s elevation as well as any related memos.

The Justice Department confirmed receipt of the letter but declined to comment.

Weiss’s appointment follows the release of transcripts from two IRS whistleblowers critical of the prosecutors' handling of the case, arguing Weiss's team slow-walked the investigation and showed Biden preferential treatment.

The whistleblowers, both IRS investigators, suggested that Weiss’s team found stronger evidence of tax crimes in California and Washington, D.C., but that he faced resistance in bringing charges outside his district.

Both Weiss and Garland have denied that, saying he was given ultimate authority to handle the investigation as he saw fit and could be elevated to a special attorney status if he deemed it necessary to bring charges elsewhere.

Weiss did not approach Garland about special counsel status until early August, with the announcement of the appointment followed by numerous filings in Biden’s case.

Those filings solidified that the deal — which had Biden pleading guilty to two counts of willful failure to pay taxes — has completely dissolved, with prosecutors suggesting charges may instead be filed in California or D.C.

The letter from the three chairmen was sent hours after attorneys for former President Trump appeared in a D.C. courthouse alongside prosecutors from special counsel Jack Smith’s team for a hearing to determine the trial date in his election interference case, now set for March of next year.

Garland appointed Weiss in the midst of the last hearing in the case.