GOP lawmakers ask Merrick Garland to give special counsel authority to prosecutor in Hunter Biden probe

Attorney General Merrick Garland has been asked by more than 30 GOP lawmakers to give the federal prosecutor investigating Hunter Biden “special counsel protections and authorities," CNBC reports.

Hunter Biden is one of former president Donald Trump's favorite targets.

During the 2020 presidential campaign Trump and his supporters regularly criticized Hunter Biden for his economic interests in Ukraine and China when his father was vice president under Barack Obama.

Hunter is also the target of a federal investigation into possible tax crimes. The investigation is being led by U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss.

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In its letter to Garland, the Republican lawmakers said giving U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss special counsel authority to “provide additional assurances to the American people that the Hunter Biden investigation is free from political influence."

"If Garland honors the request, it could give Republicans and Democrats in Congress insight into the grounds for any future decision by Weiss on whether to prosecute Hunter Biden. Lawmakers might not otherwise get that justification if Weiss is not granted special counsel status," CNBC's report stated. "Giving Weiss that status also would force Garland to explain to Congress any disagreement he had with an action proposed by Weiss during the probe, up to and including a recommendation that Hunter Biden be charged."

The lawmakers also wrote that there's "no way of knowing the entire scope of the investigation, but evidence seems to be mounting that Hunter Biden committed numerous federal crimes, including, but not limited, to tax fraud, money laundering, and foreign-lobbying violations.”

In a memoir published earlier this year, the president's youngest son recounted his struggle with addiction to cocaine and alcohol.

He also insisted he did "nothing unethical" in his business dealings and disputes allegations he displayed a lack of judgement in sitting on the board of energy company Burisma.

"The episode that led to the impeachment of a president and landed me in the heart of the decade's biggest political fable is most remarkable for its epic banality," Biden wrote.

With additional reporting by AFP