President Biden’s Justice Department told special counsel David Weiss to “follow the process” after requesting special authority in the Hunter Biden investigation.
However, Delaware’s federal prosecutor was adamant in his voluntary testimony before the House Judiciary Committee earlier this week, in which he was finally given the authority to file charges against the 53-year-old first-born in California and Washington, DC, jurisdictions that refused to partner with Weiss, if he “decided to do so.”
Weiss told the committee that he “first raised the idea” of granting special counsel authority, known as 515 authority, to top Justice Department officials Bradley Weinsheimer and John Carlin in the spring of 2022. , according to a transcript of Weiss’ testimony reviewed by The Charge.
“I raised the idea of the 515 authority at that time because I had been handling the investigation for some time,” he said. “And, as I said, they suggested that we follow the typical process and contact DC and see if DC would be interested in joining or otherwise participating in the investigation.”
“It was not granted. They said, follow the process. I followed the process,” Weiss clarifies later.
Weiss maintains that he had the authority to bring charges against Hunter Biden in any US jurisdiction.AP
The process involved contacting DC U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves and California U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada and getting them to partner with him to investigate and potentially bring charges against Hunter Biden for alleged tax crimes committed between 2014 and 2015, when the first son sat on the board of directors of the Ukrainian energy giant Burisma.
“He was… you know, he was receptive,” Weiss said of her initial call with Graves.
“I know the teams met, but I eventually received information from my staff that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia had decided not to join the case as a partner or co-counsel in the future,” he added.
After Graves refused to partner with him, Weiss told the committee that he once again approached the Justice Department.
Weiss confirmed that the statute of limitations for alleged tax crimes committed by Hunter Biden between 2014 and 2015 had expired. Saquan Stimpson – CNP
“John Carlin at that time said, ‘Look, if you decide to proceed in D.C., you have the authority to do so, and you have the authority to, under 515, file whatever charges you deem appropriate,” Weiss said, noting “In my next conversation with Carlin and Weinsheimer, I requested 515 clearance.”
Weiss, however, declined to explain why he did not press charges against Hunter Biden in DC.
The special counsel’s efforts to partner with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in California also failed.
“I had a brief conversation with the federal prosecutor [Martin] Estrada. It was October 22, and Mr. Estrada informed me that his office refused to participate with us or join us in that case,” Weiss told the committee.
Graves refused to partner with Weiss in the Hunter Biden case.AP
Weiss confirmed that the statute of limitations on Hunter Biden’s alleged crimes between 2014 and 2015 had expired, and the prosecutor said he would explain why they were allowed to expire in a future report on his investigation.
“I will address it in the report, but although the statute of limitations has expired and although no charges will be filed, if there were a pending prosecutorial process, there is no reason to believe that evidence relating to prior years, or witnesses involved in previous years, “They would not be part of that litigation,” he said.
Weiss, who was granted special counsel status by Attorney General Merrick Garland in August after a plea deal with Hunter Biden collapsed in a Delaware court, insisted he was not finished investigating the first child, including had Delaware District Judge Maryellen Noreika accepted the terms of the plea deal, which would have had Hunter Biden enter a pretrial diversion program rather than face felony weapons charges and plead guilty to two minor tax crimes.
Estrada also refused to join the case after Graves rejected Weiss. MediaNews Group via Getty Images
“Our efforts were not concluded,” Weiss said of the state of the investigation at the time the plea deal went off the rails in July.
Weiss declined to discuss several aspects of the Hunter Biden case, case personnel or anything associated with the investigation during his testimony.
“It’s not going to answer a lot of questions,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said of Weiss’ testimony Wednesday, also describing Weiss as inconsistent.
“He maintains, ‘Oh, I always could have gotten it if I’d asked for it.’ But then his response was, ‘I asked for it and they didn’t give it to me,’” Jordan said.
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley contacted Congress in April to allege a cover-up in the Hunter Biden case, which Shapley oversaw for more than three years. Shapley said Weiss told investigators in an October 2022 meeting that he lacked final decision-making authority, contrary to Garland’s sworn statements to Congress.
Shapley, backed by another IRS agent, Joseph Ziegler, alleged numerous irregularities in the first son’s investigation into about $2 million in unpaid taxes from 2014 to 2019.
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