The Department of Justice (DOJ) wrote a letter to the House Judiciary Committee on Friday informing the committee it will allow key officials involved in the Hunter Biden investigation to testify about the case.
Special counsel David Weiss, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California E. Martin Estrada and Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart Goldberg will all be available to testify in October, according to the DOJ letter, Punchbowl News first reported.
READ THE LETTER:
“These senior officials are the most appropriate individuals to address the questions the Committee has raised about the scope of Mr. Weiss’s authority,” the letter reads. “The offer for voluntary testimony by the four officials is based on the priority you have placed on hearing from U.S. Attorneys Graves and Estrada, in particular, and on your continued expression of interest in 28 U.S.C. § 515 and Mr. Weiss’s authority to bring charges in other districts as U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware.”
Republican Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said Sunday that Weiss would be testifying before the committee on Oct. 18, The Hill reported. Attorney General Merrick Garland testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, with Republican lawmakers pressing him on the details of the Hunter Biden case.
Garland testified that Biden-appointed U.S. Attorneys Graves and Estrada “could refuse to partner” with Weiss on charging Hunter Biden in their respective jurisdictions. Garland also asserted that Weiss could have requested additional authority under section 515 of the U.S. code and that he would have approved it.
IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley, an FBI agent on the Hunter Biden case and two additional IRS officials have testified that Graves and Estrada refused to cooperate on potentially charging Hunter Biden for alleged tax offenses. The New York Times independently confirmed that Estrada blocked Weiss from charging Hunter Biden.
Weiss wrote a letter to Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham in July, in which he said he had full charging authority and did not request additional authority. Weiss’ letter to Graham came after he wrote a letter to Rep. Jordan in June in which he said that his charging authority was geographically limited.
In August, Garland appointed Weiss special counsel in the Hunter Biden case after the first son’s guilty plea agreement fell apart in court and two IRS whistleblowers accused the DOJ of giving Hunter Biden special treatment under Weiss’ leadership.
Shapley testified in May that Weiss said at an Oct. 7, 2022 meeting that he did not have final charging authority after Graves refused to cooperate with Weiss. The IRS whistleblower also alleges Weiss said at the meeting that the DOJ rejected his request for special counsel authority. Shapley’s attorneys have released an email he sent and handwritten notes documenting what Weiss allegedly said during the meeting.
Shapley and IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler testified in June that Deputy Assistant AG Goldberg oversaw the DOJ tax division’s role in the Hunter Biden investigation. Goldberg participated in a June 2022 meeting with IRS investigators and DOJ officials during which DOJ tax officials made the case against charging Hunter Biden for the 2014 and 2015 tax years, the whistleblowers testified.
IRS official Michael Batdorf testified to the House Ways and Means Committee in September that DOJ tax attorneys met with Hunter Biden’s defense counsel an abnormally high number of times during the tax investigation.
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to two tax misdemeanors in July after Delaware U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned an immunity provision tucked into a pretrial diversion agreement for a felony gun charge.
Weiss filed a motion to withdraw Hunter Biden’s tax charges after his special counsel appointment to potentially charge Biden in either D.C. or the Central District of California. Noreika granted Weiss’ request and dismissed the Delaware tax charges against Hunter Biden.
Hunter Biden was indicted on Sept. 14 for three counts related to his Oct. 2018 purchase of a Colt Cobra revolver while addicted to crack cocaine. Biden will plead not guilty to the gun charges, his attorney said in a court filing.
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