Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar - EMERGENCY POD: Hunter Biden Special Counsel Appointed

Episode Date: August 11, 2023

Saagar breaks down the news on Friday 8/11/23 that a Special Counsel was appointed for Hunter Biden.To become a Breaking Points Premium Member and watch/listen to the show uncut and 1 hour early visit: https://breakingpoints.supercast.com/Merch Store: https://shop.breakingpoints.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I'm Michael Kassin, founder and CEO of 3C Ventures and your guide on good company. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What others dismiss as niche, we embrace as core. There are so many stories out there. And if you can find a way to curate and help the right person discover the right content, the term that we always hear from our audience is that they feel seen. Listen to Good Company on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, guys, ready or not, 2024 is here. And we here at Breaking Points are already thinking of ways we can up our game for this critical election. We rely on our premium subs to expand coverage, upgrade the studio, add staff, give you guys the best independent coverage that is possible. If you like what we're all about, it just means the absolute world to have your support. But enough with that. Let's get to the show. Hello, everybody. Some stunning breaking news actually just happened. Attorney General Merrick Garland has just announced that the U.S. Attorney David Weiss,

who was previously in charge of the Hunter Biden investigation and the lead investigator into those crimes, will now be given special counsel status. This is a big development. Let's take a listen to the full announcement by the Attorney General, and I'm going to break it down for everyone on the other side. Good afternoon. I'm here today to announce the appointment of David Weiss as a special counsel, consistent with the Department of Justice regulations governing such matters. In keeping with those regulations, I have today notified the designated members of each House of Congress of the appointment. In February 2018, after being nominated by the former president and confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Weiss was sworn in as the United States Attorney

for the District of Delaware. Mr. Weiss had been a career prosecutor, having served previously in the office for more than a decade. Beginning in 2019, Mr. Weiss, in his capacity as U.S. attorney and along with federal law enforcement partners, began investigating allegations of certain criminal conduct by, among others, Robert Hunter Biden. That investigation has been recently referenced in federal criminal proceedings in the District of Delaware and as noted in those proceedings and other public statements by Mr. Weiss's office, that investigation remains ongoing. In February 2021, U.S. Attorney Weiss was asked to remain as U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware and in capacity, to continue to lead the investigation. As I said before, Mr. Weiss would be permitted to continue his investigation, take any investigative steps he wanted, and make the decision whether to prosecute in any district. Mr. Weiss has told Congress that he has been granted ultimate authority over this matter, including the responsibility for

deciding where, when, and whether to file charges and for making decisions necessary to preserve the integrity of any prosecution consistent with federal law, the principles of federal prosecution, and departmental policies. In a July 2023 letter to Congress, Mr. Weiss said that he had not to that point requested special counsel designation. On Tuesday of this week, Mr. Weiss advised me that in his judgment his investigation had reached a stage at which he could should continue his work as a special counsel and he asked to be so appointed. Upon considering his request as well as the extraordinary circumstances relating to this

matter, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint him as special counsel. 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. Okay, so obviously, what does that mean? Why is this important? David Weiss was appointed five years ago.

He was the lead U.S. attorney for Delaware. He was the one who investigating the crimes into Hunter Biden. Obviously, he is kept on in his position and continuing on the Hunter Biden case after President Biden takes office. Merrick Garland has always said that he would give him the utmost independence while he was reviewing these charges. However, this has all come to head specifically in the last year or so. Two things happened. Number one is that those two IRS whistleblowers who had previously come forward have alleged that there were political considerations that actually infected many investigative decisions, both by David Weiss and by the IRS. The agents, remember, previously had said and testified in open court that Weiss actually wanted to bring felony tax charges against President, or Hunter Biden, President Biden's son, even though he was ultimately offered the two misdemeanor counts. Then what happened is that those two misdemeanor counts were brought before the judge in a recent

showdown, where Hunter Biden had ended up having to plead not guilty after previously reaching what he thought was a sweetheart plea deal. The judge actually rejected what they said, this plea deal, pleading guilty to tax charges and entering then a separate agreement on a gun charge. The judge basically said, and this almost never happens, that it seemed like there was way too much of a sweetheart nature to all of this. She didn't understand why Hunter seemingly was being absolved of a lot of future crimes. This relates directly back to the decision to allow him originally by Merrick Garland's Justice Department to actually have

Hunter plead guilty to misdemeanor charges. One of the reasons that the case actually fell apart was because Hunter and his team were so arrogant that they thought that all he had to do was plead guilty to these misdemeanor charges, enter a separate agreement on a gun charge, which is a serious gun charge, by the way, which is lying about being a drug addict anytime you purchase a firearm, and then actually trying to absolve himself of all future criminal investigations. That line specifically saying that he would not be subject to the investigation of future

ones by David Weiss, by the Department of Justice, is ultimately why Hunter and his team decided to walk and they pled not guilty. And in fact, one of the big developments on top of the David Weiss being appointed as special counsel is that apparently the plea deal here completely has fallen apart. So there's some big reporting right now from CBS News, which says that the talks between Hunter and the DOJ, specifically David Weiss now, are at an impasse and that a trial is now more likely. That's according to the court filing that they obtained, which was just published in open court. So a lot is going on right now behind the scenes, and there's a lot of different

ways that we can interpret this. Number one, and probably most important, is Republicans wanted David Weiss to come and testify before Congress. Now, traditionally, an active special counsel does not testify before Congress while that investigation is ongoing. They will issue a report, like you'll remember the Mueller report. And that's actually important for all of us because we're going to get a full rundown into the investigation, into really what happened, the Biden family, any financial machinations. But two, and then finally, that really the most important thing is that this removes and gives him special counsel status that effectively makes it near, not nearly impossible, very difficult for the White House to mess with his investigation as it is run independently. And fundamentally, I mean, that's what anyone should really care about. David Weiss has been charged this for a long time. And the biggest

way, you know, the biggest charge against him, not even really him, but by the Department of Justice, Merrick Garland, and the Biden administration by these IRS whistleblowers is the Hunter Biden got special status that he should have been prosecuted for felony tax charges. And if you combine this with some recent, you know, some recent GOP oversight reports that came out about nearly $20 million paid to the Biden family by these oligarchs from all over the world, Kazakh oligarchs, Russian oligarchs, Ukrainian oligarchs. I mean, I've detailed this ad nauseum here on the show. There was just money coming out, every which orifice of Hunter Biden and his uncle. And it all just comes back to, did President Biden benefit from this? Now, we don't know that yet. You know, we don't have evidence yet to that fact. But

I think it is very clear, the fact that it is now 2023. And this is also a major indictment of the media, that these facts, which have now been publicly available for five years, as I've said, repeatedly, are now so undeniable, because Republicans took control of Congress and forced it, you know, really forced it into the public sphere. They got those whistleblowers also who came to testify that the Biden administration had no choice really but to cave and to give special counsel status. So clearly that is going to cause a lot of consternation, I think, in the future. I think the media is going to have a tough time with this one. Remember, these people basically have a special counsel fetish after what happened with Robert

Mueller. But not this one. Not this one, right? I don't think they'll be selling candles with David Weiss's face on it. By the way, Republicans, please don't do that either. Let's just not have a hagiography for all these people. Let's just see how they do. Do they do a good job or not? But overall, I think it's a welcome development. I think it's good. You know, we should actually prosecute. No one actually should be above the law unironically. And, you know, I mean, the two tax charges here, which were brought against Hunter, ultimately, this repultory because it was really only failure to pay income on what, in my view, and I think a lot of people's view, is a very corrupt amount of money flowing into him for all kinds of insane dealings where he's on a text message saying he never wanted to register as a foreign agent. So there's a lot to go into there. And yeah, I'm excited to see

where it all goes. Thanks for sticking with me. I apologize. I'm very nasty, summer cold right now. Otherwise, thanks to our premium members who enable these snap videos, and I'll see everybody on Monday. solve murder in their community. I was calling about the murder of my husband. The murderer is still out there. Each week, I investigate a new case. If there is a case we should hear about, call 678-744-6145. Listen to Hell and Gone Murder Line on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops. They get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes.

But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. This is Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. Listen to Absolute Season 1, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Michael Kassin, founder and CEO of 3C Ventures and your guide on good company. The podcast where I sit down with the boldest innovators shaping what's next. In this episode, I'm joined by Anjali Sood, CEO of Tubi. We dive into the competitive world of streaming.

What others dismiss as niche, we embrace as core. There are so many stories out there. And if you can find a way to curate and help the right person discover the right content, the term that we always hear from our audience is that they feel seen. Listen to Good Company on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.