As Hunter Biden faces trial, spending on special counsel increases

CNN
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Special Counsel David Weiss' office spent a total of $3.4 million over the past six months – a dramatic increase as it brought Hunter Biden to trial in Delaware on gun charges and secured a conviction for the president's son.

Weiss's expenses totaled $2.3 million in the six months through March. Weiss's office also had to spend another $1.1 million to use other Justice Department resources already in place, such as security protection. Overall, expenses totaled about $3.4 million, according to financial reports released Friday.

During the previous period from Weiss' appointment in August 2023 through the end of September of that year, Weiss spent only about $183,000 and used $132,000 in permanent department resources.

Spending by two other Justice Department special counsels, Jack Smith and Robert Hur, fell slightly compared to the six months prior. The latest figures, released Friday for each office, represent spending on travel, staff, offices and other supplies and services from October of last year through the end of March.

The revelations come as the courts have tightened their scrutiny over the work of the special counsels. In recent weeks, defendants prosecuted by two of the special counsels – Hunter Biden and Donald Trump – have criticized the amounts the offices have spent on their respective investigations and questioned the ability of the Justice Department to use special counsels appointed by the attorney general instead of other prosecutors in existing offices across the country.

Smith's office, which brought federal criminal cases against Trump in Florida and Washington, DC, spent $6.63 million from October to March and used $5.2 million of Justice Department resources for a total of about $11.8 million, compared with more than $14 million in the previous six months.

Hur, who investigated President Biden over his handling of classified records after his vice presidency and closed the special counsel's office earlier this spring after failing to file charges, spent $2.475 million on personnel and other expenses in the six months ended in March. Hur also used about $2.3 million in department resources, for a total cost of nearly $5 million. Hur's previous six-month period cost the office nearly $5.3 million.

Smith and Weiss remain active and attempt to bring criminal cases in federal court.

A federal judge presiding over the classified documents case against Trump and two co-defendants dismissed the lawsuit last month, citing constitutional concerns about the office's funding. Smith's office is appealing.

Smith's case against Trump in connection with the effort to overturn the 2020 election continues, and the office's funding is not an issue before this judge.

Hunter Biden and another defendant in a separate criminal case have so far tried unsuccessfully to challenge the authority of special counsel Weiss. The president's son is scheduled to go on trial in California next month in a tax case brought by Weiss.

Appeals courts and even the Supreme Court will likely continue to address questions about the Justice Department's use of special counsel.

A key question is whether the offices can draw funding from an ongoing fund that the department decides how to use. Challengers like Trump argue that this should not be allowed because Congress has not specifically authorized the special counsel offices.