Lankford, Cornyn, 31 Senate Republicans Call for Hunter Biden Prosecutor to be Given Special Counsel Authority

WASHINGTON, DC – Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and John Cornyn (R-TX), along with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and more than 30 other colleagues, today sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding that U.S. Attorney David Weiss be extended special counsel protections and authorities to conduct the investigation into Hunter Biden: 

“There is no way of  knowing the entire scope of the investigation, but evidence seems to be mounting that Hunter Biden committed numerous federal crimes, including, but not limited to, tax fraud, money laundering, and foreign-lobbying violations,” the Senators wrote Attorney General Garland.

“Given that the investigation involves the President’s son, we believe it is important to provide U.S. Attorney Weiss with special counsel authorities and protections to allow him to investigate an appropriate scope of potentially criminal conduct, avoid the appearance of impropriety, and provide additional assurances to the American people that the Hunter Biden investigation is free from political influence.”

“Given the politicization of the DOJ under your watch and the importance of avoiding any appearance of impropriety, the undersigned request that you provide US Attorney Weiss the full protections and authorities of a special counsel.  This is one important action that you can take that will go a long way in restoring faith in our governmental institutions.”

Along with Lankford, Cornyn, and Mitch McConnell, the letter was signed by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Thune (R-SD), John Barrasso (R-WY), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Rick Scott (R-FL), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Mike Lee (R-UT), Steve Daines (R-MT), Ted Cruz (R-TX), James Risch (R-ID), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), James Inhofe (R-OK), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), John Kennedy (R-LA), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Shelley Moore-Capito (R-WV), Tim Scott (R-SC), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), John Hoeven (R-ND), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Ben Sasse (R-NE).  

You can read the full letter HERE or below: 

Dear Attorney General Garland:

We the undersigned write to request that United States Attorney David C. Weiss be extended special counsel protections and authorities to conduct the Hunter Biden investigation. 

During your confirmation hearing, you promised to keep politics out of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”). This promise has not been kept.  On October 4, 2021, you unleashed DOJ’s National Security Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), among other criminal components, on millions of concerned parents across the country, who were exercising their First Amendment rights to be involved in decisions about their children’s education, including mask mandates, school closures, and the inclusion of critical race theory in school curricula. We have received hundreds of pieces of correspondence detailing how your memorandum chilled constitutionally protected speech. To date, you have failed to rescind this memorandum despite the fact that it was primarily based on a false predicate: the now disavowed National School Board Association Letter.

You have also taken numerous other steps that have shown the unfortunate politicization of the DOJ under your charge, including targeting conservative states and legislatures for common-sense ballot integrity measures, championing radical pieces of legislation that would federalize elections, and authorizing an unprecedented search warrant on a former President’s home and current political rival shortly before a critical election without providing sufficient transparency to better understand the justification.  

Inexplicably, DOJ has neglected to take measurable efforts to protect Supreme Court Justices, pro-life advocates, and pregnancy resource centers, particularly in the wake of the leak of the draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. For months, radical abortion groups coordinated outside the homes of Supreme Court Justices to intimidate and influence the Justices in the discharge of their duties, a clear violation of federal law. Violent extremist groups like Jane’s Revenge and Ruth Sent Us have incited violence in our communities, including taking credit for bombings of pregnancy resource centers in Wisconsin, New York, and Oregon. And, on June 8, 2022, an armed man, influenced by the leak of the Dobbs’ draft opinion, attempted to murder Justice Kavanaugh outside of his home. Instead of taking measurable efforts to prevent and deter violence against Supreme Court Justices, pro-life advocates, and pregnancy resource centers, you opted to fan the flames of liberal outrage. Following the release of Dobbs, you claimed that the Supreme Court had ignored the Constitution and acted discriminately. Certainly, unhinged comments like this from our nation’s top law enforcement official contributes to political division in our country.     

As you know, the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware—led by US Attorney Weiss—has been investigating Hunter Biden. There is no way of knowing the entire scope of the investigation, but evidence seems to be mounting that Hunter Biden committed numerous federal crimes, including, but not limited to, tax fraud, money laundering, and foreign-lobbying violations. Indeed, Senators Grassley and Johnson have conducted an investigation for several years that has resulted in the public disclosure of facts that support those criminal concerns, including the disclosure of financial records showing the Biden family’s close financial connections to the communist Chinese government and questionable foreign nationals. It is clear that Hunter Biden thrived off of a “pay to play” culture of access to his father, then Vice President Joe Biden in exchange for financial compensation.

Under Department of Justice regulations and federal law, you have the power to provide special counsel authorities and protections to US Attorney Weiss. Given that the investigation involves the President’s son, we believe it is important to provide US Attorney Weiss with special counsel authorities and protections to allow him to investigate an appropriate scope of potentially criminal conduct, avoid the appearance of impropriety, and provide additional assurances to the American people that the Hunter Biden investigation is free from political influence. 

Recent news reports paint a concerning picture of the handling of the Hunter Biden investigation. As detailed by Senator Grassley, “highly credible” whistleblowers have come forward to detail a “widespread effort within the FBI to downplay or discredit negative information about” Hunter Biden.  Senator Grassley has also detailed allegations that the FBI shut down investigative activity and avenues of information relating to potentially criminal information on Hunter Biden before the 2020 presidential election. Instead of encouraging FBI and DOJ whistleblowers to report crimes and promote government transparency, you took the inexplicable step of chilling lawful whistleblower activity. Indeed, on August 30, 2022, on the heels of whistleblowers approaching Members of Congress, you issued a memorandum prohibiting DOJ and FBI employees from communicating with “Senators, Representatives, congressional committees, or congressional staff without advance coordination, consultation, and approval by OLA.” Such a restriction is contrary to law and undermines the constitutional responsibility of Members of Congress to provide congressional oversight of the Executive Branch. Clearly, this memorandum will discourage and deter whistleblowers from sharing information to report potentially criminal activity and fraud, waste, and abuse by the government.

Given the politicization of the DOJ under your watch and the importance of avoiding any appearance of impropriety, the undersigned request that you provide US Attorney Weiss the full protections and authorities of a special counsel.  This is one important action that you can take that will go a long way in restoring faith in our governmental institutions.

Sincerely,

###