Jake Tapper Says Conservatives Have ‘Legitimate Questions’ About Garland’s ‘Odd’ Special Counsel Pick In Biden Probe

CNN’s Jake Tapper reacted to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s decision to appoint David Weiss as Special Counsel to investigate Hunter Biden.

On Friday, Garland tapped Weiss – the U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware – who was already prosecuting Biden over his failure to pay taxes, as well as lying on a federal firearm application. Conservatives have been clamoring for a special counsel in the case, but expressed outrage at Garland’s choice. They pointed to IRS whistleblowers who claim the investigation into Biden was of limited scope and could have included more charges.

The whistleblowers claim Weiss did not have full authority over his probe, including the ability to bring charges anywhere in the U.S. Weiss, a Donald Trump appointee, disputes this.

Tapper addressed the criticisms on Friday’s CNN News Central.

“I think there are some legitimate questions about this whole situation,” he said. “First of all, I do think it’s fair to question why would U.S. Attorney Weiss be appointed to special counsel. Usually, a special counsel comes– is an outside attorney. Now, it has happened before. [John] Durham came from inside, and the attorney general has the right to do that, but it is odd.”

He also noted that last month, a plea agreement between prosecutors and Biden fell apart when the parties appeared before a federal judge. Biden would have avoided jail time as part of the agreement, opponents of which said was too lenient.

“This plea deal was picked apart by the judge,” Tapper continued. “So, one could ask, why would you stick with the U.S. attorney if he, you know, this was a failure, a colossal failure? The two sides had not even agreed upon what was in that plea deal. And then I think there are questions about whether or not it was harsh enough, this plea deal.”

He concluded, “This move makes it seem as though, well, maybe the whistleblowers were right. Maybe what they were alleging is true, and he didn’t have the ability to charge whatever he wanted to charge, and now he does. So I do have a lot of questions about that, and I do think some of the political questions being raised by Republicans have merit.”

Congressional Republicans allege Biden was in business with his father Joe Biden when the latter was vice president and perhaps beyond. Some have even accused the elder Biden of bribery, but no evidence has emerged to support the explosive claim.

Watch above via CNN.

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