Attorneys working with one of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent whistleblowers in the criminal investigation of Hunter Biden released their client’s notes in response to an FBI agent’s testimony casting doubt on a key claim.
IRS supervisory special agent Gary Shapley wrote down that Delaware’s U.S. Attorney David Weiss stated in an October 2022 meeting that he was “not the deciding person” when it came to bringing charges in the case, as shown in a document obtained and published by CBS News.
Shapley’s attorneys wrote to the leaders of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday declaring that they were sharing an unredacted copy of the notes in response to a Washington Post report that revealed Thomas Sobocinski, a senior FBI agent also involved in the Biden inquiry, told the congressional panel that he left the same October 2022 meeting believing that Weiss did have the authority to bring charges.
“According to the Washington Post story, Mr. Sobocinski reportedly failed to recall in his interview with Committee staff certain details of the meeting recorded in SSA Shapley’s email,” attorneys Tristan Leavitt and Mark Lytle said in their letter.
“However, Mr. Sobocinski apparently acknowledged that he took no notes in the meeting, nor did he document it in any contemporaneous fashion afterwards,” they added. “By contrast, SSA Shapley took notes during the meeting. These notes, combined with his fresh memory of the meeting, formed the basis for the email he sent later that day and corroborate his current recollection.”
Shapley’s email correspondence was previously given to the House Ways and Means Committee and then disclosed to the public. Similar to his handwritten notes, Shapley’s email expressed that Weiss had told investigators at the October 2022 meeting he was not the “deciding person” when it came to charges. Shapley’s IRS superior, Darrell Waldon, replied by thanking Shapley and saying, “You covered it all.”
Shapley, who was joined by fellow IRS agent Joseph Ziegler in coming forward as a whistleblower, brought forth allegations that the criminal inquiry into Biden was slow-walked by top officials in a way that could have precluded serious charges.
Amid increasing scrutiny on his years-long investigation, Weiss went from saying he had the “ultimate authority” to acknowledging discussions with Department of Justice (DOJ) officials who “assured” him that he would have power to bring charges outside of his district if it proved necessary.
Weiss and Biden’s legal team eventually settled on a plea agreement involving tax evasion and gun charges that could have kept the first son out of prison. But the agreement — dubbed a “sweetheart plea deal” by Republicans — fell apart this summer after a judge raised concerns about an immunity clause.
The DOJ indicated last week that Weiss, now with special counsel powers, intends to seek an indictment against Biden on gun charges by the end of the month, while one of Biden’s lawyers argued in a statement that a pre-trial diversion agreement “remains valid and prevents any additional charges from being filed.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has indicated that the prospect of the first son receiving “special treatment” is an area of interest for investigators as they engaged in an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden. The White House has called on the media for assistance in fending off the inquiry.
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