The U.S. attorney in charge of the Hunter Biden investigation broke his silence Friday after explosive allegations from whistleblowers that his investigation was “politically influenced” and that he was “biased” in make tax decisions, while denying Congress the records it requested for its oversight efforts. .
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan last month asked the US Attorney for the District of Delaware, David Weiss, to release materials related to the allegations.
Weiss responded in a letter Friday evening, saying he is “not at liberty to provide the materials you seek.”
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David Weiss, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware (Department of Justice)
“The whistleblowers’ allegations relate to a criminal investigation now pending in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware,” wrote Weiss, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump. “At this time, I am obligated to protect confidential law enforcement information and deliberative communications related to the case.”
“Therefore, I will not be providing specific information related to the Hunter Biden investigation at this time,” Weiss wrote.
The Justice Department announced last month that the president’s son had signed a plea deal that will likely keep him out of prison. Hunter Biden will plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user or addict to a controlled substance.
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Hunter is expected to make his first court appearance on July 26.
Regarding the allegations, Weiss said the Justice Department “did not retaliate” against IRS whistleblowers for making protected disclosures to Congress.
Hunter Biden disembarks from Air Force One at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base in Syracuse, New York, USA, February 4, 2023. (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)
The whistleblowers, including Gary Shapley Jr., who led the IRS portion of the Hunter Biden investigation, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee in May, alleging that Weiss lacked charging authority and was “constantly hindered, limited and marginalized.” by DOJ officials while attempting to make tax decisions. Shapley also alleged that Weiss requested the authority of a special counsel but was denied.
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But Weiss denied those allegations and again told Jordan that he was given “ultimate authority over this matter, including the responsibility to decide where, when and whether to file charges,” a statement Weiss made to the committee in a letter last month.
“I’m true to what I wrote and I want to expand on what that means,” he said.
Weiss explained that as Delaware’s U.S. attorney, his “charging authority is geographically limited” to his “home district.”
“If the site of a case is elsewhere, the department’s common practice is to contact the United States Attorney’s office in the district in question and determine if it wishes to cooperate in the case,” he wrote. “If not, I can apply for special prosecutor status to the attorney general.”
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Weiss stressed that in this case, he has been “assured that, if necessary after the above process,” he would “be granted” that authority in the “District of Columbia, the Central District of California or any other district where they could collect charges”. be brought in this matter.”
Weiss said the investigation is “ongoing.”
Weiss also welcomed the opportunity to speak to the committee “in more detail and to answer questions related to the whistleblowers’ allegations in accordance with the law and Department policy.”
UNITED STATES – May 20: Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, (Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Weiss said the DOJ would “work with the Committee to discuss the appropriate timing and scope.”
Weiss’ letter comes after Jordan, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith sent letters to the Justice Department, the IRS and the Secret Service to request transcribed interviews with Weiss and more than a dozen officials over allegations of politicization and misconduct. to their agencies throughout the years-long investigation into the president’s son.
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“The federal government is supposed to work for the American people, but whistleblower evidence shows that multiple federal employees were working overtime to cover for the Bidens,” Comer, Jordan and Smith said in a joint statement provided to Fox News Digital. “We need to hear from these federal employees and other witnesses about this weaponization of federal law enforcement.”
They added, “Americans are counting on us to ensure that actors are held accountable and restore equal enforcement of the law.”
Jordan and the House Judiciary Committee will take the lead on the Justice Department and FBI part of the investigation; with Comer and the House Oversight Committee heading the Secret Service and Smith on the House Ways and Means Committee taking the lead on the IRS.
Brooke Singman is a political reporter for Fox News Digital. You can reach her at Brooke.Singman@Fox.com or @BrookeSingman on Twitter.
