Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), a former Trump impeachment prosecutor, gave a stunning explanation for why U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss gave Hunter Biden immunity in a failed plea agreement last month on tax and gun charges: To protect Biden from prosecution by a “vindictive” Donald Trump should he win the 2024 presidential election–thereby confirming that politics is indeed playing a role in decisions by Weiss and Attorney General Merrick Garland who appointed Weiss as special counsel on Friday in the Hunter Biden case. Goldman made his remarks Sunday morning on CNN’s State of the Union in an interview with host Jake Tapper.
The immunity deal, which was buried in the fifteenth paragraph of the gun charge diversion agreement, read:
“The United States agrees not to criminally prosecute Biden, outside of the terms of this Agreement, for any federal crimes encompassed by the attached Statement of Facts (Attachment A) and the Statement of Facts attached as Exhibit 1 to the Memorandum of Plea Agreement filed this same day. This Agreement does not provide any protection against prosecution for any future conduct by Biden or by any of his affiliated businesses.”
Goldman said:
“Now, in the ordinary course, you would not give immunity for other conduct than what is charged. But this is not the ordinary course, because you have a petty, vindictive bully running as the — for president on the Republican Party who will use revenge and weaponize the Department of Justice to potentially charge Hunter Biden.
“So, even though I’m sure Hunter Biden has confidence that David Weiss will not charge him with additional crimes, they have no confidence that, if Donald Trump wins, that he would weaponize the Department of Justice to charge Hunter Biden, go back and charge him.
“And that’s why this plea agreement has broken down, because of the threat of Donald Trump’s weaponization of the Department of Justice if he were to become president.”
“If Hunter Biden committed crimes, he should be charged with them.”
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) speaks with CNN's Jake Tapper about Attorney General Merrick Garland naming a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden following his plea deal collapse. @CNNSotu #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/7mOMPWFNrs
— CNN (@CNN) August 13, 2023
CNN transcript excerpt:
JAKE TAPPER: : Congressman Goldman, thanks so much for joining us.
So Attorney General Garland said that he believed it was in the public interest to appoint U.S. attorney David Weiss as special counsel overseeing the Hunter Biden probe. Do you agree? Is it in the public interest?
REP. DANIEL GOLDMAN (D-NY): Well, I defer to the attorney general’s determination on this.
What we now know is that David Weiss, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Delaware, was right all along, that he did have ultimate authority. And when he requested special counsel status because the plea agreement has broken down and he may have to charge Hunter Biden in — outside of his own district, which he requires additional authority to do, he got it.
And this is just another reflection of the true independence of this Department of Justice. A Trump-appointed U.S. attorney is investigating the president’s son. That is pretty remarkable. And you don’t hear from the other side a respect for the fact that Joe Biden has stayed out of this investigation.
And so I defer to Merrick Garland and David Weiss. If Hunter Biden has committed crimes, he should be charged with them. I’m a Democrat saying that. You don’t hear any currently elected Republican saying that, if Donald Trump committed crimes, he should be charged with them and held accountable. And that’s a critical distinction that the public needs to understand.
TAPPER: So, House Republicans say — and we kind of heard Will — former Congressman Will Hurd say something similar just now — hey, U.S. attorney Weiss, he may be a Trump appointee, but he also was the one that signed off on this slap-on-the-wrist, sweetheart deal — their words, not mine — when it came to Hunter Biden being charged with two misdemeanors and a diversion program, instead of full felony charges.
Therefore, Speaker McCarthy and other Republicans say, David Weiss can’t be trusted to be the special counsel. What do you say to that?
GOLDMAN: Well, no one knows what the evidence is. So when they say this is a sweetheart deal, they are blowing smoke, because they have no idea.
And so this is, to my mind, having been a federal prosecutor for 10 years, not at all a sweetheart deal. This is something that is routinely treated in a civil way, through civil penalties, not criminally. And yet Hunter Biden was charged with crimes. This is a five-year investigation. They looked at everything. We know
that from testimony in the Oversight Committee. They had foreign bank records. They had domestic bank records.They had hundreds of thousands of documents. And this is ultimately what they thought they could charge.
Now, in the ordinary course, you would not give immunity for other conduct than what is charged. But this is not the ordinary course, because you have a petty, vindictive bully running as the — for president on the Republican Party who will use revenge and weaponize the Department of Justice to potentially charge Hunter Biden.
So, even though I’m sure Hunter Biden has confidence that David Weiss will not charge him with additional crimes, they have no confidence that, if Donald Trump wins, that he would weaponize the Department of Justice to charge Hunter Biden, go back and charge him.
And that’s why this plea agreement has broken down, because of the threat of Donald Trump’s weaponization of the Department of Justice if he were to become president.