David Weiss, the special counsel appointed to investigate Hunter Biden, spent years working with his late older brother Beau Biden, who was then-Delaware attorney general, a report Sunday set out.
The Washington Post reported that between 2007 and 2010 when Weiss was acting U.S. attorney for Delaware, he worked “hand-in-glove” with the elder Biden brother, and he likely ran into Joe Biden at the time, as well.
As detailed by the Post, in 2007, U.S. Attorney for Delaware Colm Connolly hired Weiss as first assistant U.S. attorney. When Connolly stepped down following Obama and Biden’s election, Weiss became the acting U.S. attorney for the next two years, until the Obama administration appointed someone to the position.
According to the outlet:
As the top federal prosecutor in Wilmington, Weiss collaborated with his local equivalent: Beau Biden, who had been elected Delaware attorney general in 2006. Weiss and Beau Biden conducted joint investigations and determined which office had jurisdiction in various cases.
Tim Mullaney Sr., who served as Beau Biden’s chief of staff at the state attorney general’s office, said the office often worked with the U.S. attorney’s office during Weiss’s tenure. He didn’t believe Beau Biden and Weiss had a relationship outside of their work. “We are always working hand-in-glove with federal government; there’s nothing unusual about that.”
The Post also noted “it also wouldn’t have been strange for Weiss to run into Joe Biden.”
“Everybody knows everybody in Delaware, and it wasn’t unusual to see [Joe Biden] at the bookstore, the ice cream shop. It is normal,” Mullaney told the paper.
An attorney who knows Weiss told the Post, “The state is a small town and everybody knows each other.”
“In Delaware, Biden “has been the most consequential figure since 1972 and I’m sure he and Weiss crossed paths.”
When Connolly’s replacement finally took over in December 2010, Weiss returned to his previous position as first assistant U.S. attorney, which he held for the next six years during the Obama-Biden administration, the paper reported.
Ironically, as Weiss investigates Hunter Biden for potential tax violations, he once issued a statement along with Beau Biden celebrating a fraud conviction. The statement said, “We will continue to aggressively pursue all types of fraud in order to protect the public.”
While Republicans once called for Weiss’s appointment as a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden, Republicans have soured on the idea, after Weiss and Biden’s defense team presented a plea deal agreement that many Republicans criticized as a sweetheart deal.
It would have seen Hunter Biden plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors, but avoid a guilty plea on a felony related to Hunter Biden allegedly illegally possessing a gun.
Under the agreement, Hunter Biden would have entered a diversion program to avoid a guilty plea and jail time. However, that agreement fell apart in court under scrutiny from Judge Maryellen Noreika last month.
At issue was whether the plea deal agreement also granted Hunter Biden immunity from any future charges stemming from the investigation — Hunter Biden’s lawyers believed it did, while prosecutors — when asked about by Noreika — said it did not. Both parties then said there was no deal, and both sides have not been able to salvage it.
A recent report in the New York Times said that Weiss signaled he was not going to charge Biden with the two tax misdemeanors until two IRS whistleblowers came forward, and aired their allegations during a high-profile congressional hearing.
Weiss declined to comment for the Post’s story, as did the White House and Hunter Biden’s attorneys.
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