A current FBI agent corroborated that now-Special Counsel David Weiss’s authority in the Hunter Biden tax probe was undercut by “other processes” in his effort to potentially charge the president’s son.
The testimony is consistent with IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley’s description of Weiss’s probe and arises at a critical time in the investigations into Joe Biden. House Republicans opened an impeachment inquiry into President Biden due in part to alleged “special treatment” Hunter Biden received from the Justice Department.
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Shapley contends the DOJ twice prevented Weiss from bringing stronger charges against Hunter Biden, including in separate jurisdictions, and that Weiss said in a meeting on October 7, 2022, that he was “not the deciding person” in the probe.
Weiss and Attorney General Merrick Garland claimed Weiss was the sole authority to charge Hunter Biden, an argument contradicted by Shapley’s boss, Special Agent in Charge Darrell Waldon, who confirmed Weiss did not have authority to charge Hunter Biden.
Weiss investigated Hunter Biden for five years for gun, tax, and Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) violations. Garland then appointed Weiss as special counsel after Weiss’s plea deal with Hunter Biden blew up under judicial scrutiny.
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The assistant special agent in charge at the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office, whose name remains undisclosed due to her sensitive work at the Bureau, testified voluntarily on Monday before the House Judiciary Committee behind closed doors.
“I’m aware that obviously charging discussions were happening, and, yes, there was a difference in the venue for some of those charges,” the FBI agent told House investigators when asked about Weiss’s authority to charge Hunter Biden.
“I remember learning at some point in the investigation that Mr. Weiss would have to go through his other processes because the U.S. Attorney’s Offices had, I guess, in that sense, using that terminology, wasn’t going to partner,” she said, referencing two separate jurisdictions in Washington, DC, and California that Weiss could have brought charges.
The FBI’s agent’s testimony became public after the Washington Post published a Tuesday story based on a transcript it obtained of the House Republicans’ interview of FBI Special Agent in Charge Thomas Sobocinski. Sobocinski, who oversaw the investigation into Hunter Biden, disputed Shapley’s claims that the DOJ “stymied” Weiss’s probe.
Shapley’s lawyers cast doubt on Sobocinski’s claim, noting he failed to recall in his interview with Republican investigators certain details of the meeting recorded in Shapley’s email.
Handwritten notes released Wednesday from Shapley’s lawyers show he quoted Weiss in October 2022 as saying he was “not the deciding person” on charging Hunter Biden with tax, gun, FARA violations.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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