When the presidency is reduced to a game of high-stakes poker, every move is important.
So it is with the Biden family scandal, where House Republicans face both opportunity and peril as they prepare to make their next bet.
The GOP comes to this pivotal moment because Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Delaware prosecutor David Weiss as special counsel in the probe of Hunter Biden.
To call Garland cynical is an understatement.
His move aims to stop the clock on House probers and take the Biden case out of the headlines.
His ultimate goal is to protect Joe Biden from any more taint about his role before the election.
Whistleblower heroes
One element of protecting the president is the special counsel rule that requires Weiss to write a public report when he is finished.
He and Garland will almost certainly use that feature to justify why they offered the president’s son the world’s sweetest sweetheart deal which, thankfully, collapsed under routine judicial scrutiny.
One element of protecting President Biden is the special counsel rule that requires Weiss to write a public report when he is finished.AP
It was a farce in light of House GOP-led investigations already revealing paper trails showing millions of foreign-sourced dollars moving through a web of shell company accounts created by Hunter Biden, with eight other family members getting a cut.
In addition, blockbuster hearings featured testimony by IRS whistleblowers who accused Garland’s Justice Department of protecting the president and giving Hunter preferential treatment.
We now know that Weiss and probably Garland, too, are guilty as charged.
A weekend report proved that Weiss was prepared to let Hunter walk free without pleading guilty to a single crime — until the whistleblowers came forward.
In a heartbeat, the prosecutor shifted gears and demanded that the president’s son plead guilty to two misdemeanors.
Investigations already reveal paper trails showing millions of foreign-sourced dollars moving through a web of shell company accounts created by Hunter Biden, with eight other family members getting a cut.AP
The discovery of Weiss’ secret maneuvering was all the more shocking because of its source — The New York Times.
Up to now, the Gray Lady has largely ignored the scandal except to acknowledge it has become a potential political problem for the president’s re-election hopes.
But with its explosive finding that Weiss was prepared to decide the case on political considerations, the Times did its first significant original reporting.
In addition to sources, most of them anonymous, the paper based its finding on hundreds of pages of correspondence between prosecutors and defense lawyers.
The shocking conclusion is summarized in a single paragraph.
Featured testimony revealed by IRS whistleblowers have accused Garland’s Justice Department of protecting President Biden and giving Hunter Biden preferential treatment.Getty Images
Reporters wrote that earlier this year, Weiss was ready “to end the investigation without requiring a guilty plea on any charges.”
The Times then adds: “But the correspondence reveals that his position, relayed through his staff, changed in the spring, around the time a pair of I.R.S. officials on the case accused the Justice Department of hamstringing the investigation. Mr. Weiss suddenly demanded that Mr. Biden plead guilty to committing tax offenses.”
Double standard
The disclosure, coming soon after Garland made the special counsel move, proves that Weiss is unfit for any role in any case, much less one this important.
With Americans’ trust in the FBI and federal law enforcement at historic lows, the proven favoritism for the Bidens and the repeated prosecutions of Republican Donald Trump reveal a loathsome double standard.
But the situation also puts Republicans in a box.
A weekend report proved that Weiss was prepared to let Hunter walk free without pleading guilty to a single crime until the whistleblowers came forward.AP
While developments provide plenty of ammunition to impeach Weiss in a party-line House vote, that could prove to be a noisy dead end.
Senate conviction and removal require 67 votes, so Weiss would be damaged but survive.
More important, impeaching Weiss probably wouldn’t lead to any action on Garland’s part, so the huge expenditure of time and energy would produce no measurable result and might turn off more voters who are sick of Washington.
As an alternative to immediate impeachment, one insider urges House leaders “to apply every tool they have to force Weiss to testify” about the case.
Perhaps he can persuade them, without saying so directly and publicly, that he’s found religion on the Biden case and, instead of giving Hunter a pass, intends to bring felony charges on the illegal gun issue, tax fraud and unregistered lobbying for foreign nationals.
Reporters wrote that earlier this year, Weiss was ready “to end the investigation without requiring a guilty plea on any charges.”AP
And, now that as a special counsel he has national jurisdiction, Weiss could also argue he’s pursuing leads in Washington, DC, and California, as well as Delaware, and that he’s prepared to follow them to the Oval Office if necessary.
On the other hand, if Weiss ducks and dodges and won’t show his cards, the insider recommends the GOP “go on a war footing” and use its majority to block spending measures and saturate the White House and Justice Department with subpoenas.
The House could also vote to cite Weiss for contempt, a reputational stain that would not require Senate action.
Another avenue for probers to explore is that the Times piece on Weiss’ flip-flop has a curious hole in it.
To wit, Garland is absent from all of Weiss’ decision-making.
If Weiss won’t show his cards, the insider recommends the GOP “go on a war footing” and use its majority to block spending measures and saturate the White House and Justice Department with subpoenas.AP
It’s as if the Delaware US attorney is free to make calls on a historic case about the president’s family without input from the attorney general.
This is nonsense and Garland almost certainly signed off on Weiss’ lenient decisions on Hunter Biden.
That makes Garland extra vulnerable now that Weiss has been exposed as playing politics with the case.
Unless the AG separates himself from Weiss, he too is automatically tainted by the plea deal, which further damages Justice’s credibility and fuels more doubts about the legitimacy of the Trump prosecutions.
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That’s hardly the legacy Garland envisions for himself, so he’s got big decisions to make. In that sense, the Times’ omission of his role in Weiss’ actions could serve as a wake-up call.
Regardless, the GOP message to Garland must be that either he finds his moral compass and treats the Biden family the same way any other family would be treated, or risks watching his reputation go up in flames as more and more evidence emerges that the president, AKA the “big guy,” was involved all along.
That’s the Republicans’ ace in the hole.
They know Joe Biden sold his vice presidency to the highest foreign bidder.
The only remaining question is how they prove it.
When they do, it’s game over for the Bidens and their defenders.
Reader: Don Fans Screwy
Reader Marvin Levine pulls no punches, writing: “While I agree with you about Biden and have always been a staunch Republican, I believe Donald Trump is the biggest a–hole that walks the earth. Having been in New York real estate for over 35 years, I think his supporters have a screw loose. As Trump’s behavior gets worse, the sane people left in the country should do everything possible to keep him out of the White House.”
Eric, time to do ‘right’ thing
Reader Bob Pascarella throws Mayor Adams a lifeline, writing: “Mr. Mayor, your party has abandoned you, it wants nothing to do with the migrant crisis.
“Why not swallow your pride, and invite Republicans to meet with you. Both parties at all levels of government, city, state and federal, have a stake in making sure that NYC survives and prospers.”
Source link: https://nypost.com/2023/08/22/the-risks-and-rewards-of-taking-down-joe-biden/