- President Donald Trump is considering personally appointing special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden in the waning weeks of his presidency, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
- Trump consulted White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and others about the possibility of appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Biden, whose business dealings in Ukraine were central to the impeachment of the president.
- The report comes on the heels of Trump who announced on Monday that outgoing Attorney General Bill Barr will be leaving the Justice Department before Christmas.
- Trump was displeased with Barr for not publicly announcing a federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes, and later for saying the DOJ and FBI found no evidence of widespread voter fraud, contradicting baseless conspiracy theories of the president and his allies .
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President Donald Trump asked his attorney if he could personally appoint special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden in the waning weeks of his presidency, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Trump raised the matter of appointing special counsel to investigate President-elect Joe Biden’s son to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and others, Trump officials and Republicans close to the White House told the AP.
The sources also told the AP that Trump is considering appointing special counsel to investigate his baseless allegations of election fraud.
White House representatives did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
The report comes shortly after Trump’s announcement on Monday that outgoing Attorney General Bill Barr will be leaving the Justice Department for Christmas. Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen will act as acting Attorney General if Barr is absent.
Read more: Trump announces that Attorney General William Barr will be leaving the Justice Department before Christmas
Trump was unhappy with Barr because he had not publicly announced a federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes, according to the AP report. The president was also unhappy with Barr, saying the Justice Department and the FBI found no evidence of widespread voter fraud, contradicting Trump’s election-related conspiracy theories.
Rosen said he was “honored” to take on the role of the country’s top agent and said he “will continue to focus on the implementation of the ministry’s key priorities.”
The question remains whether the acting attorney general will succumb to pressure from the president to investigate his political opponents as Trump enters his last few weeks in office. The president “has even asked his team of attorneys, including personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, to investigate whether the president has the power to appoint special counsel himself,” citing the AP report.
If the investigation were picked up by the Justice Department under the Trump administration, it would likely be “a longer and more complicated investigation” than the current investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes, the AP reported.
The investigation could extend past Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, who would then place the responsibility on the incoming government to keep Rosen or appoint another attorney general. The attorney general reserves the power to terminate investigations of special advisers – but only “for specific reasons such as misconduct, dereliction of duty, or conflicts of interest,” the AP said.