David Weiss: Will His Past Become Prologue?

The drip, drip, drip of the Hunter Biden soap opera that Republican congressional leaders claim has metastasized into an investigation of the president is beginning to resemble more of a faucet running full blast. On Aug. 14, the House Oversight Committee released testimony stating that Biden-the-younger was tipped off about an upcoming FBI interview. This came under the watch of US Attorney David Weiss, who is now elevated to special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Weiss has been on the case for years and was part of the plea deal recently scuttled by US District Judge Maryellen Noreika. Saying the agreement contained “atypical provisions,” Noreika indicated the settlement was outside the norm. Weiss may have been a Trump appointee, but thus far his actions in the Biden family fiasco appear to reveal he is no conservative.

David Weiss and the Colorful World of Delaware Politics

As Reuters put it, “Weiss's legal career has been built on a string of high-stakes assignments involving political and business figures in the Bidens' home state of Delaware.” In February 2018, Tom Carper and Chris Coons, the Democratic senators from the First State, recommended Weiss be appointed US attorney for the District of Delaware, and Trump rubber-stamped their choice. In 2019, Weiss began working on possible tax violations and money laundering in Hunter Biden’s foreign businesses. But this is not the attorney’s first high-profile rodeo.

In the years before he was made US attorney, Weiss prosecuted Delaware beer distributor Christopher Tigani for illegal donations to the Biden campaign. Tigani got two years in the slammer for reimbursing his employees who contributed to Joe Biden’s 2008 failed presidential run.

Before that, the prosecutor was involved in the case of Anne Marie Fahey, who was murdered by the Delaware deputy attorney general, Thomas Joseph Capano. Fahey worked as an appointment secretary to Carper – yes, the same person who currently serves as one of the state's senators (at the time of Fahey’s death, he was governor). During the trial, it was alleged that Capano killed Fahey, stuffed her body in a large cooler, put it on his brother’s boat, shot into the cooler, and wrapped it in chains so it would sink in the Atlantic Ocean. The Delaware deputy AG was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole, where he died in 2011. One can legitimately say politics in the First State is anything but boring.

However, it hasn’t all been a bed of roses for Weiss, who some say bore a striking resemblance to Tony Orlando in his salad days. A federal appeals court overturned one of the attorney's prominent cases, this time involving the conviction of four Wilmington Trust executives.

GOP Rakes Weiss Over the Coals

In a statement posted on the social media platform X, the House Judiciary GOP wrote, “David Weiss can’t be trusted, and this is just a new way to whitewash the Biden family’s corruption. Weiss has already signed off on a sweetheart plea deal that was so awful and unfair that a federal judge rejected it.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) said, “[S]omething’s not right about Weiss’ appointment as special counsel,” according to Forbes. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) posted on his X account: “Don’t be fooled. Garland appointing Weiss as a sham special counsel on Hunter is a way to block info from Congress while claiming they’re investigating.” Undoubtedly, those on the right are not thrilled with Weiss’ appointment.

Over the last decade, Delaware has been awash in Democrat blue. None from the Grand Old Party have represented the state at the federal level since William Roth lost a re-election bid for the Senate in 2001 and Mike Castle retired from the House of Representatives in 2011. For those with inquiring minds, Weiss’ Wiki page claims he is a Republican.

As things get underway in this next chapter of the Hunter Biden soap opera, Weiss is set to play a lead character. It is the role of a lifetime – one that he has been building up to for years. Although he doesn’t head into this new position with the trust and support of the party he claims to belong to, he can dispel that lack of confidence by digging deep into the Biden family business and letting the chips fall where they may.