On Friday, Attorney General Merrick Garland took the belated step of elevating Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss to the status of special counsel as part of his years-long and ongoing federal investigation of Hunter Biden.
In response to that news, Hunter Biden's attorney argued that nothing should change -- that is, unless there was interference in the matter by "MAGA, right-wing, fanatical" forces exerting undue pressure on prosecutors, according to the Washington Examiner.
Indeed, throughout the lengthy interview with CNN host Kaitlan Collins, Biden's attorney Abbe Lowell repeatedly asserted that the only difference following Garland's appointment of Weiss as a special counsel was Weiss' new title while all of the facts and laws at play remained exactly the same.
The appointment of U.S. Attorney Weiss as special counsel comes just a few weeks after a highly criticized and dubious plea agreement involving a pair of tax misdemeanors and a diverted felony gun charge completely crumbled under the scrutiny of a judge in a court in late July.
Lowell was asked by Collins repeatedly if he was "concerned" about how the investigation into Biden might change now, particularly in terms of growing broader and including other alleged crimes that weren't included in the scuttled plea deal.
"And so, am I concerned? I am only concerned that a force other than facts or law would influence any additional decision," the attorney said at one point in the interview.
Pressed to elaborate on who he was referencing with that remark, Lowell explained, "Well, what I’m referencing is, and this is not a surprise or a secret, right? From the moment this arrangement and agreement has been announced and filed, you have every MAGA, right-wing, fanatical person yelling and screaming and saying, 'It’s not right. And it’s not fair. And it’s not just.'"
"You have the former president trying to use Hunter Biden as a way to excuse his own conduct. And, at some point, that could pierce," he added. "The noise could actually be so noisy that it’d get in the way of the facts and the law. I am confident that a responsible prosecutor would not let that happen. And we’ll just have to wait and see."
Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell: “Whatever his title is and whatever happens next, we're confident that that should be the same conclusion. And if it's not, then something other than the facts and the law has come into play.” pic.twitter.com/ZKx1SnHrN8
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 12, 2023
At another point in the interview, according to the New York Post, Collins asked Lowell to address the possibility that Special Counsel Weiss could connect "any of Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings ... back to his father, the president?"
Lowell repeatedly dodged directly answering that question and instead continued to insist that nothing had changed except Weiss' title, no matter how many different unproven allegations were raised by "the MAGA right-wing" in Congress and the media.
"David Weiss was in charge of the investigation last year, the year before that, and the year before that. He is in charge of the investigation, today and tomorrow," Lowell said. "He has a new title. His powers, in our view, are the same. The evidence hasn’t changed. The law hasn’t changed."
Abbe Lowell on potential for new charges: “Do I know that that will change in the future? It shouldn't change. This is not a new special counsel. This is an investigation that's gone on for five years...So, how should it be different tomorrow? It shouldn't be.” pic.twitter.com/j5Uuj5Loo7
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 12, 2023
However, Lowell's persistent defense of how Weiss' investigation has been handled thus far falls flat when juxtaposed with the credible accounts of IRS and FBI whistleblowers who have asserted under oath that Weiss was routinely blocked from fully pursuing serious charges against Hunter Biden by senior DOJ leadership that provided preferential treatment to the Democratic president's son.
