(RightWing.org) – The Office of the Special Counsel is coming under pressure from congressional Republicans, who want it to examine how the Biden White House has handled the investigation of the president’s son Hunter. By pure coincidence, President Joe Biden has just picked a new boss for the office. By an even bigger coincidence, his nominee is Hunter’s former business associate.
On October 3, the White House announced that Biden plans to nominate Hampton Dellinger as Special Counsel to the US Office of Special Counsel (OSC). The OSC is a federal law enforcement agency. Its main job is to protect federal employees, including whistleblowers. The Special Counsel to the OSC effectively heads the office and makes sure the OSC itself isn’t committing any violations.
Right now conservative lawmakers are asking the office to look into allegations that whistleblowers weren’t properly protected during the long-running investigation of Hunter Biden’s business dealings and criminal offenses. You might wonder if this is the best time to put Dellinger in the job because he’s linked to the case himself; he and the president’s son worked together at New York City law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, and Hunter later hired the same company to represent controversial Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings when he served on its board. It’s unclear if Dellinger did any work for Burisma, but he was certainly in the department that did.
Dellinger has done well out of the Biden administration; in 2021 he was appointed as the Justice Department’s Assistant Attorney General for legal policy. Now the president plans to nominate him for a much more powerful job — and Republicans aren’t pleased.
House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R-KY) called Dellinger a “Biden family crony” and said he’s worried Biden is “trying to protect his son instead of whistleblowers.” Will Dellinger enforce the law fairly? Comer isn’t sure — but even if he does, Biden must be aware this doesn’t look good.
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