Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that he was appointing prosecutor David Weiss as special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden.
Garland said that Weiss had approached him this week and said that his investigation would require making him a special prosecutor, and Garland granted his request.
"I am confident that Mr. Weiss will carry out his responsibility in an evenhanded and urgent manner," Garland said at the end of his remarks.
As reported by NBC News' Daniel Barnes, prosecutors revealed on Friday that they have not been able to reach a new plea deal with Biden after their previous deal was rejected last month by a judge.
This left them no way to resolve the case "short of a trial," the attorneys argued.
Garland last year appointed special counsel Jack Smith to oversee two investigations against President Donald Trump, to which Smith has already leveled two separate indictments.