A GOP lawmaker asked Attorney General William Barr to appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden’s business affairs, a central tenet of the Trump campaign’s attacks on President-elect Joe Biden prior to the election.
Rep. Ken Buck made the request on Monday, insisting that a special counsel would ensure an inquiry “free from political interference,” according to a letter that was reviewed by Fox News.
“This investigation is critical to defending the integrity of our republic and ensuring a potential Biden Administration will not be the subject of undue foreign interference,” Buck wrote.
.@TheJusticeDept must appoint a Special Counsel to investigate Hunter Biden’s conduct and contents of his laptop.
This needs to be investigated free from political interference. No matter who is in the White House.
— Congressman Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) December 7, 2020
The Colorado Republican said the attorney general has the ability to appoint special counsels when there is a risk of a conflict of interest for the Justice Department, such as when the agency appointed Robert Mueller to look into ties between President Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.
Last week, Barr revealed he appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to be a special counsel to provide added protections against the former vice president possibly trying to shut down the current inquiry into the Russia investigation.
Data found on a laptop and hard drive that allegedly belonged to Hunter Biden were the subjects of Republican interest in the months leading up to the November election. They detailed his business dealings, raising questions about what the elder Biden knew and whether there were conflicts of interest and national security vulnerabilities.
Joe Biden’s team dismissed the claims as a smear against the Democrat’s campaign, and the candidate denied that he ever spoke to any of his relatives about their foreign business ventures.
Biden is set to become president in less than two months. Trump has yet to concede the race while he and his allies are immersed in litigation in several states in hopes of overturning the election results in his favor. The Electoral College meets in mid-December.
