US President Joe Biden with his son, Hunter, in Syracuse, New York, in February 2023
AFP

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday that special prosecutor David Weiss who is investigating Hunter Biden has been appointed as a special counsel. This makes the investigation into the President's son's activities even more thorough, especially with the upcoming 2024 election.

Weiss is currently the U.S. attorney in Delaware and has been looking into the financial and business affairs of the President's son. He is now authorized to "conduct the ongoing investigation ... as well as any matters that arose from that investigation or may arise," CNN reported.

Garland said that Weiss had told him that his investigation had reached a point where he believed it should continue as a Special Counsel, and he requested to be appointed.

This move is significant because Garland is usually careful in his decisions. It's happening at a time when the Justice Department is also conducting extensive investigations into both Donald Trump, the former president, and President Joe Biden's main competitor in the upcoming election.

In the previous month, a deal between the Justice Department and Hunter Biden faced problems during a court hearing. The judge expressed doubts about approving the deal, using words like "confusing," "not straightforward," "atypical" and "unprecedented" to describe it.

Federal prosecutors have spent five years investigating Hunter Biden, looking into possible crimes such as felony tax evasion, illegal foreign lobbying and money laundering.