OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper has called into question the appointment of a special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Hunter Biden.
The anchor said Friday on “CNN News Central” that Republicans who have questioned the appointment of the special counsel have merit.
“I think there are some legitimate questions about this whole situation. First of all, I do think it’s fair to question why would U.S. Attorney [David] Weiss be appointed to special counsel. Usually, a special counsel comes– is an outside attorney. Now, it has happened before, Durham came from inside, and the attorney general has the right to do that, but it is odd,” Tapper said.
“This plea deal was picked apart by the judge. So, one could ask, why would you stick with the U.S. attorney if he, you know, this was a failure, a colossal failure? The two sides had not even agreed upon what was in that plea deal. And then I think there are questions about whether or not it was harsh enough, this plea deal,” he added.
“This move makes it seem as though, well, maybe the whistleblowers were right. Maybe what they were alleging is true, and he couldn’t charge whatever he wanted to charge, and now he does. So I do have a lot of questions about that, and I do think some of the political questions being raised by Republicans have merit,” he said.
Garland announced on Friday he was appointing a special counsel to investigate first son Hunter Biden.
The AG appointed Weiss, the Delaware federal prosecutor who had been at the forefront of the Hunter Biden probes for years.
Weiss is at the center of criticism over his recommendation of probation with no jail time for Hunter in a sweetheart plea deal that fell apart last month under questioning from U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika over a blanket immunity provision from any future prosecution the agreement contained.
Her questions came after prosecutors denied the agreement contained any immunity from future prosecution clauses such as violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
After federal prosecutors said that told the judge that future charges related to alleged actions taken by Hunter Biden in violation of FARA statutes could be coming, his attorneys became unnerved.
“Rip it up!” Biden’s attorney Christopher Clark said in reference to the plea deal, according to ABC News.
“As far as I’m concerned, the plea agreement is null and void,” he added, to audible gasps in the courtroom, according to reports. Hunter Biden then pleaded not guilty to the tax charges.
Also last month, an IRS whistleblower testifying before a House committee gave some remarkable insight into previous evidence suggesting that President Joe Biden benefitted from his son Hunter’s business deals, despite claiming he knew “nothing” about them.
During a media interview, Joseph Ziegler, an IRS special agent, noted that several roadblocks were put up when he was investigating Hunter Biden for alleged tax violations.
CBS News reporter Catherine Herridge asked Ziegler, “Did you uncover evidence that President Biden financially benefited from his son’s deals?”
“I don’t feel comfortable answering that question,” Ziegler said. “Any time we potentially wanted to go down the road of asking questions related to the president, it was, ‘That’s gonna take too much approvals, we can’t ask those questions.’ And I mean, it created an environment that was very hard to deal with.”
When he tried to press forward, he said the response he mostly got was: “Let’s put that on the back burner.”
“Wouldn’t a politically sensitive case require additional approvals?” asked Herridge.
“Yes, I do understand that aspect,” Ziegler said. “But it would be like, ‘Well, let’s think about it and put that on the back burner.’”
