Legal scholar Jonathan Turley of George Washington University wrote in an opinion piece that ''there are legitimate questions'' for the Biden administration about appointing a special counsel to investigate allegations against Hunter Biden.
Turley wrote on Thursday that recent reports about emails that allegedly link President Joe Biden to Hunter Biden's bank account ''is the latest contraction of President Biden's repeated claims that he was unaware and uninvolved in past dealings by his son.''
He added, ''Given these links, there are legitimate questions of why the Justice Department has not sought a special counsel in the ongoing investigation of alleged money-laundering and tax violations linked to the president's son."
Turlet stressed the need for an independent investigation: "There is now a compelling need for an independent report on the alleged influence peddling operation by Hunter, his uncle James Biden, and potentially his father, President Biden.''
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Biden dismissed concerns about his son's activities with Burisma Holdings in Ukraine, saying that ''There's nobody that's indicated there's a single solitary thing that he did that was inappropriate, wrong ... or anything other than the appearance. It looked bad that he was there. He acknowledges that he in fact made a mistake going on the board.''
Turley noted that ''President Biden has long insisted that that his son did 'nothing wrong.' That is obviously untrue. One can argue over whether Hunter committed any crime, but few would say that there is nothing wrong with raw influence peddling worth millions with foreign entities. The public has a legitimate reason to know whether the President or his family ran an influence peddling operation worth millions.
''Given this record, there is little reason for the public to trust what it is reading about the scandal. The media has long refused to investigate the allegations or even report on emails contradicting the President.''