Former assistant U.S. Attorney Andy McCarthy explained on Friday that as president, Joe Biden would be free, legally, to fire a special prosecutor appointed by the Trump administration to investigate alleged corruption involving his son, Hunter Biden.
In an interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, McCarthy was responding to calls from some Republicans for President Donald Trump to have his outgoing attorney general, William Barr, make the appointment amid allegations that Hunter Biden has been involved in illicit dealings with foreign governments including Ukraine and China.
“Can a new president say, ‘Alright, you are now done special prosecutor,’ or have his attorney general do that?” Cavuto asked.
“The special counsel regulations may apply to the attorney general, and those are the regulations that limit the amount of interference there can be, and they don’t really limit it all that much, but they limit the amount of interference you can have with a special counsel,” McCarthy said.
“They do not apply to the president,” he continued. “Under constitutional law, all executive power in the entire government goes to one official — the president.
“Nobody else in the executive branch really has any executive power. They are all delegated to act on the president’s authority, which is why the president can remove people at will,” the former U.S. attorney continued.
“A special counsel is just a subordinate prosecutor, he’s just an inferior executive official and the president can fire him,” he added. “So legally, there’s no problem with that. I imagine politically, there would be a big price to pay.”
Last week, Hunter Biden revealed that he was being investigated by federal authorities over allegations of tax fraud.
“I learned yesterday for the first time that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they are investigating my tax affairs,” he said in a statement issued via his father’s transition team.
“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.”
Following the revelation, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) called for a special prosecutor to look into Hunter Biden’s activities, suggesting there may be more there than just tax issues.
“The Biden campaign released details of a tax fraud investigation in Wilmington. I think that was just to show maybe the least-damaging part of the investigation,” he told Fox News.
“There are allegations of securities fraud, money laundering related to Hunter Biden’s Chinese businesses, a crooked hospital deal with Jim Biden, Joe Biden’s brother out in western Pennsylvania,” he added. “These investigations span multiple jurisdictions.
“If Joe Biden becomes president, then all those prosecutors are in line to be fired next month. If there were ever circumstances that create a conflict of interest and call for a special counsel, I think the circumstances are present here,” Cotton added.
In his interview with Cavuto, McCarthy went on to say that it would actually be a “favor” for an incoming Biden administration if the Trump White House appointed a special counsel now to look into allegations against Hunter Biden.
“It would be actually a favor to the Biden administration — and I don’t think they’d see it that way but — it would be a favor for the current Justice Department to do it rather than the next one,” McCarthy said.
“The next attorney general could say that ship has sailed already, it’s been done, it would give…Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee more of a solid basis to get a commitment from the next attorney general that he or she will let that investigation go wherever it goes,” he added.
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Jon is a staff writer for BizPac Review with 30 years' worth of reporting experience, as well as an author and U.S. Army veteran. He has a BA in political science from Ashford University and an MA in national security studies/intelligence analysis from American Military University.
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