DOJ allows Hunter Biden prosecutor to testify before Congress on alleged coverup

The Justice Department has agreed to allow Delaware US Attorney David Weiss – who oversaw the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden – to testify before Congress about an alleged coverup in the case.

Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte shared the decision in a Monday letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, who along with the heads of two other Republican-led committees, demanded testimony from Weiss and 10 other Justice Department officials in relation to the probe into Hunter’s alleged tax and gun crimes.

“The Department is ready to offer U.S. Attorney Weiss to testify shortly after Congress returns from the August district work period,” read the letter to Jordan.

The DOJ “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 said.

Last Friday, Jordan (R-Ohio), Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) had threatened to issue subpoenas to compel testimony from Weiss and other DOJ officials if Attorney General Merrick Garland didn’t make the “voluntary” decision to allow their congressional testimony.

Monday’s letter from Uriarte made no mention of the other Justice Department officials the House committees are seeking to grill before Weiss, including Los Angeles-based US Attorney Martin Estrada and DC US Attorney Matthew Graves.

The three committees are jointly investigating allegations the DOJ interfered in a five-year investigation into Hunter’s potential tax crimes, allowing the first son to plead guilty to misdemeanors and evade $2.2 million in missed payments.

The lead IRS agent on the case, Joseph Ziegler, and his supervisor, Gary Shapley, publicly testified last Wednesday that Justice Department officials obstructed standard investigative steps and that US attorneys appointed by President Biden blocked tax fraud charges in Southern California and Washington, DC.

Weiss has given the impression in written statements that he denies the IRS whistleblowers’ claims that he lacked independent charging authority and Garland has maintained that he stands by his under-oath testimony to Congress about the independence of Weiss, who was nominated by President Donald Trump on the recommendation of the state’s two Democratic senators.