Last month, we learned from IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley that U.S. Attorney David Weiss told multiple witnesses the DOJ had instructed him not to pursue charges against Hunter Biden in California and Washington, D.C. This conflicted with Weiss’s and Attorney General Merrick Garland’s public assertions that Weiss had complete authority in his investigation.
The New York Times confirmed Shapley’s claims last week, and now Weiss has confirmed them as well.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) recently called on Weiss to clarify his past claims of having full authority, giving him a deadline of July 6 to respond. Weiss responded on Friday night in a letter.
“Dear Chairman Jordan,” the letter begins, “This is in response to your June 22, 2023, letter, wherein you renew your request for materials related to whistleblower allegations made in connection with the investigation into Robert H. Biden, and request additional information related to my response to your initial letter on this topic. At the outset, I would like to reaffirm the contents of the June 7 letter drafted by my office and reiterate that I am not at liberty to provide the materials you seek.”
Weiss further wrote, “in my June 7 letter I stated, ‘I have been granted ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when and whether to file charges and for making decisions necessary to preserve the integrity of the prosecution, consistent with federal law, the Principles of Federal Prosecution, and Departmental regulations.’ I stand by what I wrote and wish to expand on what this means.”
Here is where it gets interesting.
As the U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, my charging authority is geographically limited to my home district. If venue [sic] for a case lies elsewhere, common Departmental practice is to contact the United States Attorney’s Office for the district in question and determine whether it wants to partner on the case. If not, I may request Special Attorney status from the Attorney General pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 515. Here, I have been assured that, if necessary after the above process, I would be granted § 515 Authority in the District of Columbia, the Central District of California, or any other district where charges could be brought in this matter.
Weiss is trying to have it both ways. He insists he had full authority to press charges in his district while he still confirms the crux of Shapley’s accusations — that he did not actually have full authority to bring charges against Hunter Biden without having the authority of a Special Counsel.
Related: Hunter Biden’s Tax Deductions Include Payments to a Prostitute and a Sex Club
As Kim Strassel explained in the Wall Street Journal, “If the team appointed to investigate Hunter wanted cases prosecuted in certain jurisdictions, and those cases failed to proceed on the say-so of Biden appointees, it destroys Mr. Garland’s claims that the case was insulated from politics.” Further eroding Garland’s claims is that Weiss reportedly did request special counsel status from the Justice Department in the spring of 2022 but was denied.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member