CNN legal analyst Elie Honig held nothing back during a Monday appearance on “CNN This Morning,” claiming that newly-appointed Special Cou...
CNN legal analyst Elie Honig held nothing back during a Monday appearance on “CNN This Morning,” claiming that newly-appointed Special Counsel David Weiss and the Justice Department had made “an unholy mess” of the investigation into President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.
Honig spoke with host Poppy Harlow about Weiss’ long history with the case, noting that the Delaware-based U.S. Attorney had multiple opportunities to charge the president’s embattled son and that he had repeatedly put off doing so until whistleblower testimony and public pressure backed him into a corner.
Harlow began with a report from The New York Times that said Weiss had been prepared to forego any charges in Hunter’s case but that the IRS whistleblowers had forced his hand.
“The takeaway is that the DOJ has made an unholy mess of this whole Hunter Biden situation. I fault David Weiss, who I’ve spoken positively about on this show, given his long service as a U.S. attorney,” Honig agreed.
“But if you look at that reporting, first he was willing to let this thing go altogether. Political pressure ramped up, he backtracks and says, ‘Oh no we’re going to need to take misdemeanor pleas,'” Honig continued. “Then they go into court ready to take misdemeanor pleas, more pressure, more testimony from the IRS and then this deal falls apart, and now he says, ‘Well now I need to be called Special Counsel.'”
“It seems like now twice, he’s tried to make this case go away cheaply, twice been called out on it, and twice backtracked, only in response to the whistleblowers,” the legal analyst concluded.
Weiss’ apparent willingness to let the younger Biden off with a proverbial wrist-slap is one of the main reasons that many Republicans — who have long been calling for the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel to oversee Hunter Biden’s case — are at least wary that Weiss was the one chosen to take on that task.