Republican chair of the House Intelligence Committee Rep. Mike Turner said Sunday that Special Counsel David Weiss allowed potential felony charges against Hunter Biden to expire under the statute of limitations, prompting Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan to ask why Weiss would be part of “that level of conspiracy,” considering he was appointed under Donald Trump.

House Republicans are investigating alleged crimes committed by Hunter Biden and whether or not President Joe Biden is connected to those crimes, independently of the Special Counsel’s investigation. Weiss’s elevation to that role from special prosecutor has been met with skepticism or even outrage by many in the GOP, including Sen. Ted Cruz, who on Sunday called it “camouflage” for letting the Biden family off the hook.

Rep. Turner had his own concerns to share Sunday on CBS’s Face The Nation, and was asked by Brennan whether he has any “confidence” in Weiss and his “ability to conclude this in a fair way.”

Among the issues he brought up, the Ohio Republican said a big concern about Weiss is “that he was the one that allowed the statute of limitations to expire on some very critical felony charges that could have been brought against Hunter Biden.”

“Why would he have done that?” Brennan asked.

“The IRS whistleblower said that it was that interference from the Department of Justice,” Turner replied. “There’s some question as to whether or not it’s prosecutorial misconduct, but it certainly could be, you know, prosecutorial malpractice.”

Turner was pointing out that whether or not it was intentional does not change that it wasn’t a good thing to happen.

“In any event, when you when you’ve been given the charge to handle claims of such explosive nature and allow the statute of limitations to expire, resulting in — You know, Hunter Biden has in his pocket $125,000 worth of taxes that were owed to the United States that, as a result of these being expired, remain in his pocket,” he explained.

Although Turner had made it clear that the question of motive on the part of the prosecutor has no bearing on the fact that it shouldn’t have happened, Brennan’s follow-up suggested that Turner had argued a cover-up.

“Why would a U.S. attorney appointed by President Trump working under a Republican attorney general with career prosecutors have that level of conspiracy?” she asked, both suggesting that the objection was baseless and implying that those connections mean Weiss, who was appointed under Trump after being nominated for U.S. attorney by Delaware Democrats, should be sympathetic to the GOP’s perspective, or at least not given to collusion with Democrats.

“Well, it’s not a conspiracy, that’s an actual, that that actually occurred,” said Turner, referring to the fact that the statute of limitations in fact expired for multiple charges while Weiss was special prosecutor.

“To deliberately allow for the statute of limitations to pass?” asked Brennan.

“I think those are questions that he has to answer,” said Turner. “You know: why did this occur?”

He pointed out that Weiss had been working with attorneys on the issue of the statute of limitations, so was obviously aware of the pending expirations, then moved on to discussing some of the allegations against the Bidens being made by Republicans in the House.

BRENNAN: I want to get to you on a number of national security fronts, but you also sit on House Oversight, which is investigating the president’s son, Hunter, and has called for U.S. Attorney David Weiss, now Special Counsel Weiss, to come and testify. Do you have confidence in him and his ability to conclude this in a fair way?

TURNER: Well, obviously, there are concerns. You know, one like Catherine [Herridge], I also looked at the appointment and the appointment seems more narrow than what Bill Barr had given him. Attorney General Barr. The, this says that it’s limited to the case that was brought before him initially, that that’s the scope, instead of all of the matters related to unpaid taxes. The concern here, obviously, with with Barr being special counsel – excuse me, Weiss being special counsel, is that he was the one that allowed the statute of limitations to expire on some very critical felony charges that could have been brought against Hunter Biden.

BRENNAN: Why would he have done that?

TURNER: The IRS whistleblower said that it was that interference from the Department of Justice. There’s some question as to whether or not it’s prosecutorial misconduct, but it certainly could be, you know, prosecutorial malpractice. In any event, when you when you’ve been given the charge to handle claims of such explosive nature and allow the statute of limitations to expire, resulting in. You know, Hunter Biden has in his pocket $125,000 worth of taxes that were owed to the United States that, as a result of these being expired, remain in his pocket.

BRENNAN: Why would a U.S. attorney appointed by President Trump working under a Republican attorney general with career prosecutors have that level of conspiracy?

TURNER: Well, it’s not a conspiracy, that’s an actual, that that actually occurred, that those–

BRENNAN: To deliberately allow for the statute of limitations to pass?

TURNER: I think those are questions that he has to answer.

BRENNAN: Okay.

TURNER: You know, why did this occur? The IRS whistleblowers said that it was interference from the Department of Justice that allowed them to expire. The prosecutor, Weiss, had been working with Hunter Biden and his attorney, and actually getting waivers from, for those tax limitations period.

BRENNAN: Mm-hmm.

TURNER: And he stopped getting the waiver. So he certainly was knowledgeable, aware that it was going to be expiring. And then something occurred where he allowed those to expire.

Watch the clip above, via Face the Nation on CBS.

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