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Republican complaints about Attorney General Merrick Garland’s actions tend to be reflexive: Whatever he does, GOP officials are against. But as unfortunate as this dynamic is, it’s still unusual to see the party effectively declare in unison, “How dare the attorney general do what we asked him to do.”
The New York Times summarized the latest problem nicely:
Congressional Republicans have for months repeatedly written to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland demanding he appoint a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden, the president’s son, over his business dealings. Some even demanded that a specific man be named to lead the inquiry: David C. Weiss, the Trump-appointed Delaware U.S. attorney who has long investigated the case. But on Friday, after Mr. Garland elevated Mr. Weiss to special counsel status, Republicans in Congress reacted publicly not with triumph, but with outrage.
It was in April 2022 when several dozen House Republicans wrote to Garland, formally urging him to appoint a special counsel to oversee the Hunter Biden case. It wasn’t altogether clear why — a Trump-appointed prosecutor was already handling the case, and there was no evidence of political interference — but the GOP lawmakers made the appeal anyway.
Five months later, in September 2022, 33 Senate Republicans didn’t just want any special counsel, these GOP senators specifically requested that Garland elevate Weiss to the role.
“Given the politicization of the DOJ under your watch and the importance of avoiding any appearance of impropriety, the undersigned request that you provide U.S. Attorney Weiss the full protections and authorities of a special counsel,” the senators’ letter read. “This is one important action that you can take that will go a long way in restoring faith in our governmental institutions.”
Even at the time, the Republicans’ request was tiresome and needlessly partisan: They asserted without evidence that the Justice Department had been politicized under Garland, which was, and is, a baseless claim. Nevertheless, the GOP senators appeared certain that if the attorney general made Weiss a special counsel, this would address the party’s concerns.
So much for that idea.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who wanted Weiss to serve as special counsel, told Fox News yesterday that he believes Weiss is a “wildly inappropriate“ choice to serve as special counsel. Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, who signed the same September 2022 letter, also told Fox News that she sees the Trump-appointed prosecutor as a “collaborator.” (She didn’t say who, exactly, Weiss is collaborating with.)
Meanwhile, on the presidential campaign trail, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who also urged Garland to make Weiss a special counsel, told Fox News that Weiss “is not to be trusted“ in the role of special counsel.
This is, of course, just a partial list. Several other Senate Republicans — Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson, South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, and Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, among others — pushed similar complaints after Friday’s announcement, despite having requested this specific outcome.
To be sure, each of these GOP senators have roughly the same explanation for the dramatic shift: When they pressed Garland to make Weiss a special counsel, the prosecutor had not yet offered the president’s son a “sweetheart” deal. Now that they’ve seen it, the argument goes, they no longer like the Trump-appointed prosecutor.
The problem with this explanation is that the plea agreement Weiss and his team offered Hunter Biden does not appear to have been an actual “sweetheart” deal, Republicans' rhetoric notwithstanding.
Nevertheless, the agreement has since collapsed, and the case appears headed for trial. Watch this space.