Before being named special counsel in the case, U.S. Attorney David Weiss’ office repeatedly gave preferential treatment in the investigation of President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, three House committee chairmen note in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
In their letter, Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) and Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith call (R-MO) on Garland to provide all documents and communications referring or relating to Garland’s appointment of Weiss as special counsel.
“The Department pulled punches in this investigation, handicapping veteran investigators and preventing them from freely pursuing the facts,” says the letter to Attorney General Garland.
“Since the early days of its investigation concerning Hunter Biden, DOJ has deviated from its standard investigative procedure and afforded Hunter Biden special privileges not afforded to other Americans,” the letter says, detailing 11 specific instances of preferential treatment:
- The Department tipped off Hunter Biden’s counsel that investigators would search a storage unit Hunter Biden owned before investigators could conduct the search.
- The Department allowed the statute of limitations to lapse on charges for the 2014 and 2015 tax years, including felony charges of tax evasion and filing a false or fraudulent tax return for the 2014 tax year, despite defense counsel’s willingness to consent to an extension.
- Attorneys from the Department’s Tax Division suggested removing Hunter Biden’s name from documents, including subpoenas.
- FBI headquarters curtailed attempts to interview Hunter Biden by giving the presidential transition team and Secret Service a heads-up the night before the agents’ planned day of action on December 8, 2020, preventing them from ever actually interviewing Hunter Biden.
- Prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) in Delaware prohibited IRS and FBI investigators from asking about or referring to “the big guy” or “dad” in witness interviews.
- Prosecutors at the Delaware USAO limited the number and substance of interviews investigators were allowed to conduct.
- IRS investigators were excluded from meetings with defense counsel.
- Prosecutors withheld a Tax Division charging memorandum regarding Hunter Biden’s tax crimes from the IRS investigative team.
- Delaware USAO and Tax Division prosecutors slow walked search warrants to obtain and preserve records.
- Delaware USAO and Tax Division prosecutors instituted unnecessary approval processes for investigative actions.
- Prosecutors refused investigators’ requests to follow up on seemingly incriminating WhatsApp messages between Hunter Biden and representatives of a Chinese corporation.
“All of these, and numerous other, deviations were the result of actions by Department employees and occurred when Mr. Weiss, per your own admission, ‘supervised’ the investigation in his role as U.S. Attorney,” the chairmen note.
“The Department pulled punches in this investigation, handicapping veteran investigators and preventing them from freely pursuing the facts,” they write, calling into question Garland’s decision to appoint Weiss:
“Now you have appointed as special counsel an individual who oversaw all the investigation’s irregularities, who spent the past two months claiming that he did not need special counsel status, and who was responsible for the plea agreement that collapsed in court and is widely viewed as an embarrassment for the Department.
“In light of Mr. Weiss’s record leading this investigation, we have concerns with his appointment as special counsel.”
The letter gives Garland until September 11, 2023 to provide the records.
Read full letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.