The Department of Justice (DOJ) began to offer dates for Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss to explain on Capitol Hill why federal prosecutors struck a weak plea agreement with the president’s son.
On Monday, the assistant attorney general for legislative affairs sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee “to offer U.S. Attorney Weiss to testify shortly after Congress returns from
the August district work period.” The department offered Sept. 27-28 or Oct. 18-19 for Weiss to give public testimony, according to the letter obtained by The Federalist.
“U.S. Attorney Weiss is the appropriate person to speak to these issues, as he is both the senior Department official responsible for the investigation as well as the person with direct knowledge of the facts necessary to respond to the assertions in which you have expressed interest,” the letter said, indicating the DOJ is preparing to throw Weiss under the bus for the Biden-protection racket.
Lawmakers received the letter on the same day the House Oversight Committee finalized plans to hear from former Hunter Biden business partner Devon Archer, who will give testimony on Monday next week. Archer is expected to testify that Hunter Biden facilitated meetings and phone calls with his then-vice president father at least two dozen times.
Monday’s letter from the Justice Department was signed by a mid-level staffer, not by Attorney General Merrick Garland or even his deputy, while open questions remain surrounding Weiss’s ability to press the charges recommended by federal investigators.
Gary Shapley is one of two veteran agents at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) who testified last week as a whistleblower on the Hunter Biden tax probe. On Thursday, Shapley claimed Weiss was denied special counsel authority to investigate the first family.
Hunter Biden struck a plea deal with federal prosecutors, led by Weiss, limited to two misdemeanor tax crimes and one charge of felony firearm possession. The latter will be forgiven following 24 months of sobriety, an agreement in jeopardy if the mysterious cocaine in the White House were linked to Hunter, who authored a book on his own struggles with drug addiction.
Joseph Ziegler, the other IRS agent who testified alongside Shapley, told lawmakers the case warranted special counsel protection.
“I still think that a special counsel is necessary for this investigation,” Ziegler said, before a federal judge has signed off on the plea agreement.
Both made clear that significant felony charges were left off the table in violation of department policy. Whistleblowers also said federal tax investigators were left in the dark about evidence of a $10 million bribery scheme between the president and his son and Ukrainian businessmen.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has called on Garland to allow nearly a dozen DOJ officials to testify about the whistleblower allegations last week. The Department of Justice said Monday, however, that Weiss himself could address the specific allegations of widespread interference made by the pair of IRS whistleblowers in their bombshell testimony.
“The Department believes it is strongly in the public interest for the American people and for Congress to hear directly from U.S. Attorney Weiss on these assertions and questions about his authority at a public hearing,” the letter read.