Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.), a Republican with his eye on a potential White House run in 2024, on Thursday said a special counsel should be appointed to investigate Hunter Biden, President-elect Joe Biden’s son.
Cotton alleged during a Fox News interview that Hunter Biden appears to be the subject of a far-ranging investigation and cited allegations of securities fraud, money laundering and “a crooked hospital deal with Jim Biden, Joe Biden’s brother” in Western Pennsylvania.
“These investigations span multiple jurisdictions and if Joe Biden becomes president then all of those prosecutors are in line to be fired next month. If there were ever circumstances that created a conflict of interest and called for a special counsel, I think those circumstances are present here,” Cotton said.
“The Biden family has been trading on Joe Biden’s public office for fifty years,” he added. “Do we really think that that will change if Joe Biden becomes president, the highest office in the land?”
Cotton made his comments a day after Hunter Biden disclosed that the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware is investigating his tax affairs.
“I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors,” Biden said in a statement.
Senate Republicans and Democrats are already set to battle over Attorney General William Barr’s appointment of Connecticut U.S. attorney John Durham to serve as special counsel going into next year to complete his investigation of the FBI’s investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign and its interactions with Russian officials.
Barr’s designation of Durham as special counsel will make it more difficult for the next attorney general to bring Durham’s investigation to a close. The next attorney general can only fire a special counsel for a specific reason such as misconduct, dereliction of duty or conflict of interest.