hunter biden
US Attorney David Weiss says he has not asked for special counsel status in the Hunter Biden investigation
David Weiss, the US attorney leading the investigation into Hunter Biden, on Monday directly refuted key allegations put forward by an IRS whistleblower who has made claims of political interference in the years long investigation.
The Justice Department last month approved a plea deal with Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, that will likely allow the 53-year-old to avoid prison in exchange for pleading guilty to failing to pay taxes on income he received in 2017 and 2018 .
In a letter sent Monday to the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Weiss confirmed for the first time that he did not request a special counsel designation in the probe, contrary to one of the main assertions from the whistleblower, which Republicans on Capitol Hill have authorized on to claim improper interference from Attorney General Merrick Garland.
In April, IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley tested before Congress that Weiss had been unsuccessful in persuading federal prosecutors in Washington and California to bring charges against Biden, so Weiss then requested to become a special counsel, which — according to Shapley — was denied.
But in the new letter, Weiss refutes this.
“To clarify an apparent misperception and to avoid future confusion, I wish to make one point clear: in this case, I have not requested a Special Counsel designation,” Weiss wrote to Sen. Lindsey Graham of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Weiss wrote that he had conversations with Justice Department officials about being appointed as a “special assistant” or “special attorney” under a separate law, so that he could independently file charges in a district outside of his own, and he was assured he’d d be granted that authority if needed, so he did not seek to be appointed as a special counsel.
US Attorney David Weiss gives a press conference
US attorney leading Hunter Biden probe breaks silence on claims investigation was ‘influenced by politics’
The US attorney in charge of the Hunter Biden investigation broke his silence Friday following explosive whistleblower allegations that his probe was “influenced by politics” and that he was “hamstrung” when making prosecutorial decisions, while denying Congress the records it requested for its oversight efforts .
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan last month requested US Attorney for the District of Delaware David Weiss turned over materials related to those allegations.
Weiss responded in a letter Friday evening, saying he is “not at liberty to provide the materials you seek.”
HOUSE GOP DEMAND TRANSCRIBED INTERVIEWS FROM HUNTER BIDEN PROSECUTOR, DOJ, IRS, SECRET SERVICE OFFICIALS
David Weiss, the US Attorney for the District of Delaware (Department of Justice)
“The whistleblowers’ allegations relate to a criminal investigation that is now being prosecuted in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware,” wrote Weiss, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump. “At this juncture, I am required to protect confidential law enforcement information and deliberative communications related to the case.”
“Thus, I will not provide specific information related to the Hunter Biden investigation at this time,” Weiss wrote.
The Justice Department last month announced that the president’s son had entered a plea agreement that would likely keep him out of jail. Hunter Biden is set to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax, and to one charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
BOBULINSKI OFFERED TO TESTIFY AT HUNTER BIDEN GRAND JURY, BUT ‘NEVER HEARD BACK’: SOURCE
Hunter is expected to make his first court appearance on July 26.
As for the allegations, Weiss said the Justice Department “did not retaliate” against the IRS whistleblowers for making protected disclosures
Graham: US attorney in charge of Hunter probe was briefed on FBI form detailing Joe Biden’s bribery accusations
The US Attorney who led the federal investigation into Hunter Biden was “briefed” on the key FBI form that contained allegations that then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national were involved in a criminal bribery scheme that involved influence over US policy decisions, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed Wednesday.
Mon. Lindsey Graham, RS.C., the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent letters to Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Trump-appointed Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, who led the federal investigation into Hunter Biden demanding answers amid allegations of whistleblowers suggesting the probe was slow-walked and influenced by politics.
GRASSLEY, GRAHAM DEMAND FBI TURN OVER KEY DOCUMENT LINKED TO BIDEN ALLEGATIONS
Graham wrote to Garland and Weiss separately, seeking information on the alleged politicization that influenced decisions throughout the Hunter Biden probe.
Mon. Lindsey Graham, RS.C., speaks during a press conference at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 16, 2022. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The document in question is an FBI-generated FD-1023 form. The form, dated June 30, 2020, reflects the FBI’s interview with a “highly credible” confidential source who detailed multiple meetings and conversations he or she had with a top executive of Burisma Holdings over the course of several years, starting in 2015. Hunter Biden sat on the board of Burisma.
In the letter to Weiss, Graham said that he has “been informed that you and your office were briefed on allegations in an FD-1023 form suggesting there may have been phone calls recorded between Hunter Biden and Joe Biden with a senior official at Burisma Holdings , a Ukrainian energy company.”
President Biden has snapped at reporters who have asked him about alleged corruption involving him and his son, Hunter Biden. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
“The FD-1023 in question alleges that the
US Attorney General denies that Hunter Biden tax probe was stymied
US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday denied allegations by an Internal Revenue Service whistleblower, who said the high-ranking federal prosecutor tasked with investigating President Joe Biden’s son Hunter was hindered by the Justice Department from pursuing more aggressive criminal tax charges.
Speaking publicly for the first time since Hunter Biden was criminally charged on Tuesday with two misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to pay income taxes, Garland told reporters at a press conference that US Attorney David Weiss, the top federal prosecutor in Delaware, “was given complete authority” to make charging decisions on his own.
“David Weiss was appointed by President Trump as the US attorney in Delaware and assigned this matter during the previous administration,” Garland said.
“He was given complete authority to make all decisions on his own,” the attorney general added.
Weiss’ office on Tuesday revealed in a court filing that Biden had agreed to plead guilty to the two misdemeanor tax charges. He has also agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion program to avoid facing a more serious felony count of possessing a firearm while a drug addict.
Republicans have since attacked the charging decision, calling it a sweetheart deal that will likely allow the younger Biden to avoid prison time.
Transcript of an interview with an IRS agent
On Thursday, lawmakers in the US House of Representatives released the transcript of an interview with Gary Shapley, an IRS criminal supervisory agent who worked on the Hunter Biden probe.
Shapley said that the Justice Department slow-walked the case, starting during the Trump administration and continuing through Garland’s tenure.
Most notably, Shapley said investigators uncovered evidence of more serious tax crimes that could only
US attorney general denies Hunter Biden probe slowed
US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday denied allegations that the Justice Department interfered with an investigation of President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.
Prosecutors announced earlier this week that Hunter Biden had reached a plea deal on minor tax and gun charges with the US Attorney in his home state of Delaware.
Hunter Biden is due to appear in court on July 26 after agreeing to plead guilty to two federal tax charges and admitting to illegally possessing a gun despite having a history of drug use.
A whistleblower from the Internal Revenue Service alleged in testimony before the Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee released this week that the Justice Department headed by Garland had slowed the probe into Hunter Biden.
Garland, in remarks to reporters on Friday, noted that the US Attorney in Delaware, David Weiss, had been appointed by former president Donald Trump, a Republican.
Garland said he personally had given Weiss the authority to continue his investigation into Hunter Biden and “prosecute any way in which he wanted to.”
“I don’t know how it would be possible for anybody to block him from bringing a prosecution given that he has this authority,” the attorney general said.
“He was given complete authority to make all decisions on his own.”
Hunter Biden, 53, is the only surviving child of Joe Biden’s first marriage, which ended tragically in 1972 when his wife and baby daughter were killed in a car accident.
Hunter Biden’s business dealings, especially during the time his father was vice president, has been a major target of Joe Biden’s political opponents, and continues to be probed by congressional Republicans.
Hunter Biden became
Merrick Garland at center of Hunter Biden whistleblower claim
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Merrick Garland is the unnamed official whose testimony to Congress is being challenged in a bombshell letter from an IRS whistleblower’s attorney alleging a cover-up in the Hunter Biden criminal investigation, The Post has learned.
Attorney Mark Lytle wrote Wednesday that the longtime IRS employee wanted to provide information to congressional leaders to “contradict sworn testimony to Congress by a senior political appointee” — Garland — and also to detail “preferential treatment” in the criminal probe of the first son.
The whistleblower already made disclosures to the inspectors general of the Treasury and Justice departments.
However, due to a quirk of federal law, he needs congressional approval to more fully describe his allegations to his own lawyers, which he wants to do before testifying to lawmakers.
Garland has repeatedly claimed under oath that Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, a Trump administration holdover recommended in 2017 by the state’s Democratic senators, is able to criminally charge Hunter Biden without the permission of other Justice Department leaders, despite Republicans challenging the factual accuracy of that claim.
Garlands in April 2022 told Mon. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) that “there will not be interference of any political or improper kind” in the investigation of Hunter Biden led by Weiss.
“He is the supervisor of this investigation,” Garland said of Weiss, adding that “we put the investigation in the hands of a Trump appointee from the previous administration, who is the US attorney for the district of Delaware, and … you have me as the attorney general, who is committed to the independence of the Justice Department from any influence from the White House in criminal matters.”
David Weiss, the US attorney who holds Hunter Biden’s fate in his hands
David Weiss, the little-known US attorney for Delaware, will soon step into the spotlight as the Justice Department’s prosecutor with the power to file potential criminal charges against President Joe Biden’s troubled son Hunter.
Multiple outlets reported Thursday that the FBI believes it has collected enough evidence to charge Hunter Biden with crimes related to tax fraud and lying about his drug use when he purchased a firearm, and the decision of whether to charge the president’s son with those or other crimes rests with Weiss.
Weiss, 66, was nominated by then-President Donald Trump in November 2017 and confirmed by the Senate in February 2018.
In February 2021, Joe Biden asked all Senate-confirmed US attorneys appointed by Trump for their resignations, with Weiss being the exception. John Durham was asked to step down as the US attorney for Connecticut but was kept on as special counsel for his criminal review of the Trump-Russia investigation.
Hunter Biden revealed he was under federal investigation in Delaware for his taxes shortly after the 2020 election, saying: “I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors.”
The younger Biden is also reportedly being scrutinized for possible money laundering, as well as possible foreign lobbying violations under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Trump announced his intent to appoint Weiss on Nov. 17, 2017, with the White House dear the prosecutor shared Trump’s “vision” for “Making America Safe Again.”
Weiss had already taken over as acting US attorney in March 2017 after then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked Weiss’s predecessor, Charles Oberly, and 45 other US attorneys appointed by President Barack Obama to submit their resignations.
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FBI sends Hunter Biden tax, gun purchase evidence to US Attorney
WASHINGTON (CBS News) — The FBI months ago gathered what agents believed was sufficient evidence to charge Hunter Biden, the president’s son, with crimes related to taxes and making a false statement when purchasing a gun, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
Evidence gathered by FBI and IRS investigators was sent to the US Attorney’s office in Delaware, according to the sources.
A spokesperson for the Trump-appointed US Attorney in Delaware declined to comment. The Washington Post was first to report that the agency had provided evidence of alleged crimes to federal prosecutors.
Chris Clark, an attorney for Biden, criticized the FBI in a statement to CBS News, accusing someone within the agency of leaking information from grand jury proceedings, which would be a felony he expects “the Department of Justice will diligently investigate and prosecute.”
“As is proper and legally required, we believe the prosecutors in this case are diligently and thoroughly weighing not just evidence provided by agents, but also all the other witnesses in this case, including witnesses for the defense. That is the job of the prosecutors,” Clark said.
A source close to Hunter Biden told CBS News that Biden’s team believes that this leak was driven by frustration inside the FBI over the time it is taking prosecutors to deliberate over this case. Biden’s team believes the bureau is trying to pressure prosecutors to act.
The FBI has been facing increasing pressure from Republicans in Congress over assertions that it is making decisions based on political considerations.
The US attorney’s office in Delaware has been investigating Hunter Biden since at least 2019. A federal subpoena from that year, obtained by CBS News, sought Hunter Biden’s bank records dating back to 2014, when Joe Biden was vice president. Investigators have examined whether Biden owes