McENANY: “Jonathan, two questions for you. We’ve seen two molds in the special counsel: We’ve seen Jack Smith special counsel, which has been robust and very public and rather rapid, and then you’ve seen the Robert Hur one looking into Biden documents, which has been notably more quiet, you’ve said perhaps Robert Hur’s face belongs on a milk carton because we have not heard a lot from him. So in what mold do you think this David Weiss special counsel will fall, number one? And number two, does this provide any sort of impediments for the congressional investigation into Hunter Biden and the Biden family?”

TURLEY: “Well, I think that’s the concern. The initial concern is whether Weiss is damaged goods. You usually appoint a special counsel who will satisfy all sides, that this is someone who doesn’t bring any baggage to the question, who can resolve these issues. These whistleblowers were critical of Weiss. You know, Weiss suggested that he always had this authority. The whistleblowers said he said the opposite to staff, they suggested he allowed statute of limitations to run. That has not been the suggestion of the Department of Justice. So, the reappointment of Weiss will raise some questions. As for the congressional investigations, there’s no question that making him special counsel will now make it more difficult for Congress to get answers from him and from this investigation. It is not likely to deter Congress, however, particularly if they are shifting towards an impeachment inquiry. Once again, it goes to what is the mandate here? This goes beyond Hunter Biden. They’ve already allowed critical crimes to expire. Now, for Hunter Biden, this is obviously a chilling moment. His counsel told the prosecutors in open court, ‘Just rip it up.’ Now, I gotta tell you, as a criminal defense attorney, if I ever said that to a prosecutor in open court, my client would be toast. They would just say, ‘Well, that’s fine with us. We’ll hit you with everything we’ve got.’ So, the question is whether Weiss is going to follow that standard response and say, ‘All right, let me introduce you to my friend called FARA and you will have an indictment as a foreign agent. I’m also going to take a look at some of these other crimes. That is the cost of ripping up a deal in open court.”

COMPAGNO: “Jonathan, it’s Emily. So, on that note, just two weeks ago, the Justice Department agreed to allow David Weiss to testify, specifically to testify before Congress about the alleged cover-up. So, does this somehow insulate him from that testimony or can Congress’ power supersede any type of special counsel inoculation?”

TURLEY: “It is. I mean, look, if he appears as a special counsel in the middle of an investigation, you’ll be able to write his responses on a postage stamp. He’ll just keep on saying, ‘Good question, we’re looking into it.’ He will not be very forthcoming. What Congress expected is that, given the essential closure of the tax issues, that he could respond to these whistleblowers. This insulates Weiss and the Department of Justice more than it necessarily moves the investigation forward. It does not appear that Garland expanded the mandate. Instead, he changed the status of Weiss and he is going to be able now to say that, ‘There is ongoing investigation, I’d love to answer these questions, but pound sand.’”

[By design. — Ed]