With Hunter Biden on trial, special counsel spending grows

By Katelyn Polantz, CNN

(CNN) — Special counsel David Weiss’ office spent a total of $3.4 million over the past six months, a dramatic increase as it took Hunter Biden to trial in Delaware on gun-related charges and secured a conviction of the president’s son.

Weiss’ expenditures reached $2.3 million for the six months ending in March. Weiss’ office also incurred an additional expense of $1.1 million for the cost of using other already existing Justice Department resources, such as security protection, for a total outlay of about $3.4 million, according to financial disclosures released Friday.

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

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

The disclosures come as courts have upped their scrutiny of special counsel office operations. In recent weeks, defendants being prosecuted by two of the special counsels — Hunter Biden and Donald Trump — have taken issue with the amounts the offices have spent on their respective investigations and questioned the Justice Department’s ability to use attorney-general appointed special counsels rather than other prosecutors in existing offices throughout the country.

Smith’s office, which brought federal criminal cases against Trump in Florida and Washington, DC, spent $6.63 million from October through March plus used $5.2 million of DOJ 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 for his handling of classified records after his vice presidency and closed the special counsel’s office early this spring after filing no charges, spent $2.475 million on personnel and other expenses in the six months through March. Hur also used about $2.3 million of department resources, for a total cost of nearly $5 million. Hur’s prior six-month period cost the office nearly $5.3 million.

Smith and Weiss are still active and attempting to move criminal cases toward trial in federal courts.

A federal judge overseeing the classified documents case against Trump and two co-defendants dismissed that case last month, citing constitutional questions about how the office received its funding. Smith’s office is appealing.

Smith’s case against Trump related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election continues, and the funding of the office isn’t an issue before that judge.

Hunter Biden and another defendant in a separate criminal case have so far been unsuccessful in attempting to challenge special counsel Weiss’ authority. The president’s son is scheduled to go on trial next month in a tax case brought by Weiss in California.

Appeals courts and even the Supreme Court are likely to continue looking at questions about the Justice Department’s use of special counsels.

One major question is whether the offices are able to draw funding from an ongoing standing fund that the Department determines how to spend. Challengers including Trump have argued that shouldn’t be allowed because Congress didn’t specifically sign off on the special counsel offices.

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