U.S. Attorney David Weiss denied on Monday allegations made by two IRS whistleblowers that he requested special counsel status in his investigation of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter and that he was blocked from bringing charges against the younger Biden in two jurisdictions.
Weiss stated in a letter obtained by Breitbart News to Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) that he neither requested special counsel status from Attorney General Merrick Garland nor was he “denied the authority to bring charges” outside of his local office in Delaware.
“To clarify an apparent misperception and to avoid future confusion, I wish to make one point clear: in this case, I have not requested Special Counsel designation pursuant to 28 CFR § 600 et seq,” Weiss wrote.
He added, “Rather, I had discussions with Departmental officials regarding potential appointment under 28 U.S.C. § 515, which would have allowed me to file charges in a district outside my own without the partnership of the local U.S. Attorney.”
One of the IRS whistleblowers, Gary Shapley, a 14-year veteran of the agency who was assigned to Hunter’s case for years, testified to Congress that Weiss told him and other senior officials in a meeting on October 7 that Weiss was “not the deciding official on whether charges are filed” in the case.
Shapley said Weiss also said during the meeting that U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves of D.C. would not allow Weiss to bring charges against Hunter there and that the Justice Department had denied Weiss’s alleged special counsel request. Shapley said he later learned U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada of California had also opted not to bring charges against the younger Biden.
A second unnamed IRS investigator corroborated to Congress portions of Shapley’s testimony.
Weiss’s comments to Graham run contrary to Shapley’s testimony.
“I was assured that I would be granted this authority if it proved necessary. And this assurance came months before the October 7, 2022, meeting referenced throughout the whistleblowers’ allegations,” Weiss stated, noting he followed the “process” he had previously outlined in a response to Congress.
He wrote that he has “never been denied the authority to bring charges in any jurisdiction.”
Shapley’s attorneys responded in a public statement to Weiss’s latest comments on the matter, accusing the U.S. attorney of changing his story.
“As a practical matter, it makes no difference whether Weiss requested special counsel or special attorney authority,” the attorneys wrote. “Under no circumstances should ‘the process’ have included the political appointees of the subject’s father, because Congress and the public had been assured it would not—but it did.”
Write to Ashley Oliver at aoliver@breitbart.com. Follow her on Twitter at @asholiver.
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