Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, special counsel in the ongoing Hunter Biden investigation, confirmed a key allegation made by IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan said Tuesday.
Weiss testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and said he requested special attorney authority under section 515 in the spring of 2022, Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan told reporters. Weiss was not given the special attorney authority and did not have special attorney authority before his special counsel appointment in August, Jordan said. (RELATED: Here Are Five Essential Questions Top Hunter Biden Prosecutor David Weiss Must Answer)
.@Jim_Jordan to reporters on David Weiss’s transcribed interview:
“When he was specifically asked, did you ever request special attorney authority under Section 515, Mr. Weiss’s response was yes, in the spring of 2022. So that that goes to the heart of the matter.
He requested…
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) November 7, 2023
“When he was specifically asked, did you ever request special attorney authority under Section 515, Mr. Weiss’s response was yes, in the spring of 2022. So that that goes to the heart of the matter,” Jordan stated.
“So to me, that’s the key takeaway. He won’t answer a lot of questions. But that’s the key takeaway, because this whole deposition was about the changing story we got from DOJ, regarding the authority that he had,” he continued.
“And that answer, I think the key is, is entirely consistent with what Mr. Shapley said after the October 7, 2022 meeting, when he said USA Weiss requested Special Counsel authority when it was sent to DC and Main DOJ denied his request and told him to follow the process.”
Shapley testified to the House Ways and Means Committee in May and recalled an Oct. 7, 2022, meeting where Weiss allegedly stated that he requested special counsel authority and got denied by the Department of Justice (DOJ) after Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves refused to cooperate on potentially charging Hunter Biden for alleged tax offenses in D.C.
Shapley’s attorneys have released handwritten notes and an email containing Shapley’s account of the Oct. 7, 2022, meeting. Weiss denied Shapley’s accusations in a July letter to Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
In his letter to Graham, Weiss said he did not request special counsel authority and alluded to internal discussions about special attorney authority, without disclosing the results of those discussions.
Special attorney authority under section 515 would have authorized Weiss’ office to level charges against Hunter Biden outside of his district without needing to collaborate with the U.S. Attorneys in those jurisdictions.
Two IRS officials testified that Weiss and Shapley developed a rift after the Oct. 7, 2022, meeting, resulting in Shapley being removed from the Hunter Biden case.
Graves testified before the Judiciary Committee in October and confirmed his decision not to cooperate with Weiss in March 2022, according to a transcript reviewed by the Daily Caller.
Likewise, Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California E. Martin Estrada confirmed he refused to cooperate with Weiss in October 2022, according to a transcript reviewed by the Daily Caller. Shapley accused both U.S. attorneys of declining to cooperate on the case when he testified to the Ways and Means Committee.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss special counsel in August after Hunter Biden’s guilty plea agreement collapsed in court and IRS Whistleblowers Shapley and Joseph Ziegler testified publicly.
Garland testified before the Judiciary Committee in September and asserted that Weiss had “full authority” over the Hunter Biden investigation.
He said the U.S. attorneys “could refuse to partner” with Weiss on the case and insisted Weiss could have requested additional authority under section 515 and that he would have approved it.
“All he would have to do is ask me for 515 authority, and I would sign it right away,” Garland said in response to a question from Republican South Carolina Rep. Russell Fry.
Weiss said he had “ultimate authority” over the case in a June 7 letter to Rep. Jordan. He wrote another letter to Jordan in late June in which he said his charging authority was geographically limited. Garland defended the consistency of Weiss’ letters during his September testimony.
Both whistleblowers accused the DOJ of giving Hunter Biden special treatment during its investigation into his taxes and firearms possession. The Ways and Means Committee released a trove of documents in September supporting the IRS whistleblower testimony.
Hunter Biden is suing the IRS for alleged illegal disclosures by the IRS whistleblowers in their testimony and media interviews. Hunter’s defense attorney, Abbe D. Lowell, wrote a letter to Weiss in August making similar accusations against the whistleblowers.
Hunter Biden was indicted in September on three federal gun charges in connection with his October 2018 purchase of a firearm in Delaware while he battled a crack cocaine addiction. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in October and later downplayed them in a Thursday op-ed for USA Today.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information becomes available.