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William Barr “has to act” and appoint a special counsel to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter before Election Day, Donald Trump said Tuesday, addressing his attorney general through his favorite outlet, the Fox morning show. & Friends.
Hunter Biden is the subject of New York Post reports about a laptop hard drive that was allegedly left at a repair shop in Delaware and obtained by Trump ally Rudy Giuliani. The former New York mayor is now Trump’s personal attorney and his quest for political dirt on the Bidens has played out in public, having contributed to Trump’s impeachment over the approaches made to Ukraine.
The Post’s stories of alleged corruption involving an energy company have not been verified by other outlets and have been treated with caution by social media platforms. Fox News reportedly aired the story, intended as an “October surprise” to propel the president in his fight against Biden at the polls, given concerns about his credibility. On Monday, the New York Times reported dissent in the Murdoch newspaper’s newsroom for its hasty production. A former Post staff member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Guardian: “This sucks.”
But Fox has shown no qualms about widely discussing the claims on his air. In a 45-minute telephone interview Tuesday, Fox & Friends hosts repeatedly asked Trump about it.
The president was asked if he would “appoint a special prosecutor” to investigate the story and “any corresponding legal or ethical issues that may be uncovered from the former vice president’s 47 years in public office.”
Trump responded: “We have to get the attorney general to act. You have to act and you have to act fast. You have to name someone, this is great corruption and you have to know it before the elections ”.
Trump’s new lawsuit of Barr, who critics say has done more than any attorney general in history to protect the political interests of his president, shows how dangerous any loyalty to Trump can be, said Stand Up Republic, a government reform without profit. group.
“Trump attacking Barr should be a warning to all Republicans: the commitments he makes to his ethics and principles will never be enough,” the group tweeted. “There is always one more commitment, one more demand, one more corruption that will be required of you. There is no ‘half’ with Trump. “
Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor, said Trump’s call to prosecute his political opponents was an abuse of power that would have been unthinkable under previous presidents.
“Imagine if George W Bush publicly asked John Ashcroft to investigate and possibly prosecute John Kerry’s children in October 2004,” Honig tweeted, “or if Barack Obama pressured Eric Holder to open a case against Mitt’s family. Romney in October 2012 “.
Barr has often been seen fulfilling Trump’s wishes, and has been criticized for it. For example, he downplayed the findings of Robert Mueller, the special counsel who investigated Trump-Russia ties; intervened in the sentence of the assistants convicted by Mueller; and ordered investigations of the FBI and Justice Department’s own investigations into Russian electoral interference beginning in 2016.
With just two weeks left before Election Day on November 3, it seems unlikely that the attorney general in this case will comply with Trump’s orders and appoint a special counsel to go after the Bidens. But even considering a level of “Trump fatigue” in a nation accustomed to the president’s violation of political norms, the demand for political retaliation through Fox & Friends was surprising.
The Post has not allowed other outlets to view material taken from the laptop purportedly owned by Hunter Biden. But Democrats in Congress and media reports have said the FBI is investigating the Post’s stories as the fruit of a Russian disinformation campaign. Giuliani is known to be associated with at least one person whom US agencies consider an asset of Russian intelligence.
On Monday John Ratcliffe, a former Republican congressman installed by Trump as director of national intelligence, insisted to Fox Business There was no indication that the Post stories stemmed from Russian disinformation efforts. On Fox & Friends on Tuesday, Trump said, “Thank God we have John Ratcliffe.”
Trump was scheduled to host a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night. He and Biden will meet for the final presidential debate on Thursday, in Nashville, Tennessee. The debating committee has set the topics for the evening and his team has advised Trump not to interrupt Biden like he did in the first pageant last month. But it seems likely that the president will mention Hunter Biden and Ukraine.
Prompted by his friends at Fox News, Trump called Biden’s remarks that he was unaware of his son’s business “disgraceful.”
Biden has called the Post’s stories a “smear campaign.” On Tuesday, his campaign offered no further comment.
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