|
Listen To This Story
 |
While David Weiss, the US attorney in Delaware who brought criminal charges against Hunter Biden, firmly rejected assertions that the investigation was impeded, he gave House Republicans what they are looking for: enough ambiguity to continue their desired narrative.
In a letter he sent to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) Friday, Weiss pushed back against the claims of two whistleblowers, who said they were retaliated against for pointing out irregularities in the Hunter Biden investigation.
“[The] Department of Justice did not retaliate against ‘an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Supervisory Special Agent and whistleblower, as well as his entire investigative team… for making protected disclosures to Congress,’” Weiss, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, wrote.
Noting that “the whistleblower’s allegations relate to a criminal investigation that is now being prosecuted in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware,” Weiss stated that he is “required to protect confidential law enforcement information and deliberative communications related to the case.”
That will suit Republican investigators just fine since they can pretend that their investigation is being stonewalled.
Last week, special supervisory agent Gary Shapley testified that the investigation into President Joe Biden’s son had been slow-walked.
Shapley suggested that the probe had been influenced by politics.
“But whatever the motivations, at every stage, decisions were made that had the effect of benefiting the subject of the investigation,” he testified, adding that these decisions “not allowing enforcement actions to be executed” and “limiting investigators’ line of questioning for witnesses.”
In his letter, Weiss also emphasized that he stood by a statement he had made in a previous letter on June 7, where he told the committee that he has been “granted ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when and whether to file charges and for making decisions necessary to preserve the integrity of the prosecution, consistent with federal law, the Principles of Federal Prosecution, and Departmental regulations.”
Shapley had asserted that this was not the case, and Republicans had quickly picked up on that narrative.
Weiss did point out that his “charging authority is geographically limited to my home district.” Some conservatives immediately interpreted this factual statement to mean that the US attorney did not, in fact, have full authority.
Last month, Hunter Biden had reached an agreement with prosecutors that would keep him out of jail in return for pleading guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts. In addition, the president’s son also agreed to enter into a diversion program related to a gun charge.
However, it is virtually certain that Republicans will not allow the matter to rest after Biden’s July 26 court date.
Instead, they are going to continue to go after the president’s son, whom they have accused of various criminal offenses.
