Former Attorney General William Barr this week said that the Hunter Biden case is an example of "shameful self-dealing by that family," during remarks at the American Enterprise Institute.
Barr, while talking about his recent memoir on Thursday, was asked about how the Justice Department should respond to calls for a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden's international business dealings. Barr referred to calls for a criminal investigation as "an inside-the-Beltway play" that distracted from what he described as a story of "shameful self-dealing" by the Biden family.
"What people do, and Hunter Biden is a perfect example of it, they had several weeks to tell the tale of Hunter Biden, and they didn't do it," Barr said. "Their game was to try to get a criminal investigation going. That's usually now what the play is. It's an inside-the-Beltway play: Let's get a criminal investigation going, and that becomes the issue — Is he going to be indicted? — instead of telling the story.
"The American people, if they knew the facts, would look at what happened and whether it is a crime or not that would ever be prosecuted, they would see what it was, which was shameful self-dealing by that family. And instead of telling the story, they made the question whether or not it was a crime. And we constantly do that today. And it's stupid because the criminal justice process isn't suited for that."
Barr also noted that the Justice Department appoints a special counsel when there is a conflict of interest involving the department, saying that there was no conflict of interest in this case during his time as attorney general and therefore no need to appoint a special counsel.
In addition, Barr said that the calls for a special counsel are part of a growing, unhealthy trend of attempting to criminalize political scandals, pointing to former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of former President Donald Trump. Barr also said that if he had appointed a special counsel, he thought the incoming Biden administration would reverse the decision.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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