Amna: The long-running federal
investigation of president
Biden's son, hunter, entered a
new phase today with attorney
general Merrick Garland's
appointment of a special
counsel.
John yang has more.
John: Amna, the new special
counsel is David Weiss.
He won't need time to get up to
speed because as Delaware's U.S.
Attorney he's run the
investigation from the
beginning.
He was a trump appointee who was
held over and given full
authority over the case.
Now as special counsel his
Independence is guaranteed by
law.
Ag Garland: This appointment
confirms my commitment to
provide Mr. Weiss all the
resources he requests.
It also reaffirms that Mr. Weiss
has the authority he needs to
conduct a thorough investigation
and to continue to take the
steps he deems appropriate
independently based only on the
facts and the law.
John: Later, Weiss said in a
court filing that prosecutors
and defense attorneys in hunter
Biden's tax and gun case are at
an impasse and are not in
agreement on either a plea
agreement or a diversion
agreement.
So on those charges, hunter
Biden may be headed for trial.
NPR justice correspondent Carrie
Johnson was at Garland's
announcement.
The attorney general said Weiss
asked for this, why would he ask
for this and what is the change?
Carrie: Justice department
policy says don't tell people in
the public what you are doing
exactly before you decide to
file criminal charges.
Exactly what changed is unclear.
We do know the attorney general
said David Weiss came to him,
called him on Tuesday and said
had entered a new stage of
this investigation and he
believed it was important to
appoint him a special counsel.
Merrick Garland said he was in
the public interest, he agreed,
and that has been done as of
today.
All we know is since 2019, Weiss
has been investigating hunter
Biden.
According to appointment
paperwork, others as well, but
we don't know who they are.
It may be this investigation has
entered a new phase regards
hunter Biden, and possibly
others.
John: What do we know about the
scope?
Of what Weiss can do?
Carrie: He will keep charge of
this hunter Biden investigation
and he is also able to prosecute
other people, including Biden
and others potentially for other
crimes he uncovers during the
course of the investigation.
Typically that would mean any
destruction of evidence but
there is no evidence that has
happened yet.
John: Is it an indication that
this investigation will go on a
while?
Carrie: Some people think so,
what attorney general Merrick
Garland in his announcement
today said he expected Weiss to
act with urgency.
He is clearly familiar with the
nature of the allegations, he's
been looking at them for years
and years, and we know the other
special counsel's, there are two
others on the job, including
jack Smith, who has been
prosecuting former president
Donald Trump, he's been acting
with great speed.
It's possible that decisions are
made relatively soon.
John: Hunter Biden's attorney
made a statement that this
doesn't change anything as far
as they are concerned.
With the prosecution saying they
are at an impasse on the other
charges, what does that mean
going forward?
Could he be on trial for some
charges while being investigated
by other things?
Carrie: He absolutely could.
Given the impasse and a rather
broad gap between hunter Biden's
lawyers in the justice
department over whether his
initial plea deal conveyed him
broad immunity for foreign
lobbying or other business
activities, I don't know how you
resolve that gap.
It's possible hunter Biden goes
to trial, though his lawyer said
he expected a fair resolution
devoid of politics.
John: You were a couple of
blocks away from the justice
federal courthouse with a
hearing on the order that jack
Smith, the special counsel in
the 2020 election case, is
asking for the limit of what
could -- what trump can talk
about in the trial.
The defense offered an
alternative and the judge tried
to reconcile the two.
Haddad -- how did she do that?
Carrie: She issued an order late
in the day today, that paves the
way for Donald Trump's lawyers
and trump himself to get over
11,000 pages of documents the
government has collected, she
said that trump cannot just
blast out sensitive information
about witnesses, recordings of
witnesses made to the public.
She said that could intimidate
witnesses and taint the jury
pool.
He will have to follow certain
rules even though he is the
former president.
The judges said Donald Trump in
some ways is like any other
criminal defendant with a day
job.
His day job happens to be
running for the white house.
John: From what the judge did
today, are there any signs that
she gave about her approach to
this case?
Carrie: She was quite cordial to
both sides, government lawyers
and trump's lawyer, and said
basically that trump's lawyer,
after she heard there were 11
million pages of documents
coming his way, I can't wait to
see your trial proposal she
wants this trial to happen soon.
The special counsel wants it to
happen in January of 2024 and
trump's lawyer will try to delay
this, but this is a no nonsense
judge and she will want to bring
it to travel for the election if
she can.
John: She's asked defense to
propose their date for the trial
next Thursday.
You say she wants this to go to
trial, do you expect that to
show up when she picks the date?
Carrie: She is not messing
around, she said to both sides,
on August 28, they have a long
hearing scheduled, that she will
set a date.
We may know by the end of the
month when Donald Trump faced
charges in Washington, D.C.
Related to the capitol riot and
events before that.
John: Carrie Johnson, thank you
so much.
Carrie: Thank you.
♪♪