President Trump is reportedly considering pressuring the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel in the federal tax probe of President-elect Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.
Trump has sought advice from White House counsel Pat Cipollone, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and others outside the administration, The Associated Press reported. The reported discussions come after Trump announced Attorney General William Barr’s resignation earlier this week. Trump vocally criticized Barr for not making the investigation into Hunter Biden public before the election.
The president is also reportedly considering pushing for an unrelated special counsel into his unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Trump is mulling appointing Jeffrey Rosen, who is set to take the position of acting attorney general after Barr departs next week, as the special counsel, according to several sources who spoke to the AP. The president is also reportedly considering replacing Rosen if he pushes back and is consulting with legal advisers like his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on whether Trump himself has the authority to appoint a special counsel.
Only the attorney general can fire a special counsel and appointing one in the case could force Biden’s attorney general to go on record if they choose to dismiss them. Biden has repeatedly pledged that his Justice Department will be independent, contrasting that with what he has called Barr’s personal loyalty to Trump.
“It’s hands off completely. Look, the attorney general is not the president’s lawyer. It’s the people’s lawyer,” Biden said in a May interview with MSNBC.
Rosen, meanwhile, said in a 2019 confirmation hearing for his current post as deputy attorney general that he would resist political pressure in the role.
“If the appropriate answer is to say no to somebody, then I will say no,” he said, telling a Senate panel that Justice Department investigations should be “free of improper political influences.”
The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.