Barn doors, colts bolting — or a timely recommitment to a thorough investigation of Biden Inc? Merrick Garland today announced a move that should have taken place at the very beginning of the Biden administration, and comes well after the statute of limitations ran out on some of the crimes that US Attorney David Weiss had investigated.

This smells more like CYA after Weiss’ plea-deal arrangement collapsed, but we’ll see. For now, Weiss now actually has the plenary authority to charge crimes that Garland and Weiss both claimed he had all along:

BREAKING: Attorney General Merrick Garland appoints Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss as a special counsel in Weiss' investigation of Hunter Biden. https://t.co/N1819adZIT pic.twitter.com/NC1updpP4b

— ABC News (@ABC) August 11, 2023

U.S. Attorney David Weiss will be appointed special counsel in the ongoing probe of the president’s son Hunter Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday.

Weiss will be responsible for the “ongoing investigation” of President Joe Biden’s son “as well as for any other matters that arose or may arise from that investigation,” the Justice Department said in a statement. Weiss, who was already overseeing the Hunter Biden probe and is based in Delaware, asked to be appointed special counsel on Tuesday and Garland agreed it was “in the public interest” to do so, the attorney general said.

Perhaps I’m being skeptical, but this looks more like a way to retroactively justify Weiss’ earlier moves than a fresh start of the Biden corruption and influence-peddling probes. The Department of Justice got humiliated in federal court with the rejection of the smelly plea deal that Weiss tried. Critics also ripped Weiss and Garland when several whistleblowers from the IRS contradicted their earlier claims that Weiss had full authority to prosecute, and then backed up that testimony with contemporary documentation.

By appointing Weiss with special counsel authority now, expect the plea deal to return to federal court under the argument that it represents the considered judgment of Weiss rather than the political manipulation of Garland and Joe Biden. Or maybe not; it also allows Garland and Biden a way to reset the investigative clock, and then to run it out past the November 2024 election. By changing Weiss’ status, it allows Garland to pretend that the special counsel will start at the beginning.

That was what Andrew McCarthy predicted as a potential special-counsel appointment:

Second, is the appointee a new broom that sweeps clean? That is, will the special counsel bring in a new staff to take a fresh look at the Biden scandal, or will he or she just be a figurehead who creates the illusion of detachment from Biden Justice Department supervision but actually retains the same Biden Justice Department lawyers?

Keeping Weiss in place signals that Garland has chosen the “figurehead” option. Katie Pavlich shares my skepticism as well:

The same U.S. Attorney who gave Hunter Biden the sweetheart plea deal (misdemeanors instead of felonies) that is currently being renegotiated because it completely fell apart after a judge caught a buried broad immunity clause, has been appointed as Special Counsel? ….ok https://t.co/dwxjIFeMp1

— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) August 11, 2023

Garland and Weiss will likely argue that Congress should suspend its probe of Hunter Biden and Biden Inc so as not to interfere with the new “special counsel” investigation. That’s nonsense on stilts, especially since the purview of oversight into potential corruption in the executive branch belongs to Congress, not an executive-branch agency. James Comer and Jim Jordan will correctly deduce this move as a way to stall action on Biden Inc, and they will not fall for that banana-in-the-tailpipe trick.

Update: Jonathan Turley asks the right question:

…The question is, if Weiss always had this power to ask for an appointment, why didn't he when he was reportedly prevented from pursuing charges in two other jurisdictions?

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) August 11, 2023

And why didn’t he ask it before the statute of limitation expired on felony tax-evasion charges? Because it’s all a fugazi.

Update: The plea deal appears to be dead now:

NEWS: Prosecutors now say Hunter BIDEN plea deal is unlikely and the case appears headed for trial. https://t.co/gfMMFmk84N pic.twitter.com/8Ix34jIi6v

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 11, 2023

UPDATE: Judge orders Hunter Biden to respond to DOJ's motion to vacate his plea schedule by MONDAY at noon.

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 11, 2023

Well, this is certainly convenient for attempting to keep Congress out of the way. It won’t work, but it means that the case will now get strung out for months.

Update: ABC’s Jon Karl wonders why Weiss asked now for this status, too:

.@jonkarl on special counsel appointment to Hunter Biden investigation: "This certainly raises the question of 'why.' Why did Weiss decide to ask for this," in wake of proposed plea deal weeks prior. https://t.co/nrdVchP53Z pic.twitter.com/2y6Cq9B6eU

— ABC News (@ABC) August 11, 2023