Has United States Attorney David Weiss been granted the ultimate authority to investigate and charge the Hunter Biden case as he sees fit? IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley testified that Weiss told him and others on the investigative team that he did not (for example, at page 28 of the Shapley transcript). Taking advantage of the long holiday weekend in a scandal management kind of way, on Friday Weiss released a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan responding to Jordan’s question on this point. I say “respond” rather than “answer” advisedly. Weiss’s June 30 letter is posted online here. Analyze this:
The New York Post covers Weiss’s Friday news-dump letter in “Hunter Biden prosecutor maintains he had ‘ultimate authority’ over probe: ‘I stand by what I wrote.’” I’m not sure “stand by” is the right formulation. “Wobbles by” may be more like it. The Post story does not take up the interpretive issues raised by Weiss’s response.
Margot Cleveland provides background necessary to understanding Weiss’s current letter in her Federalist column “IRS Whistleblower Emails Suggest David Weiss Misled Congress In Letter Claiming Charging Authority.” Cleveland notes that Weiss’s current letter is his second. It follows up on Weiss’s June 7 letter to Jordan. Weiss’s June 7 letter is posted online here.
That letter prompted a June 22 letter from Jordan. Jordan’s June 22 letter is posted online here. Weiss’s current letter responds to Jordan’s June 22 letter.
In the June 22 letter Jordan asked Weiss to provide “a list of individuals who drafted or assisted in drafting” Weiss’s June 7 letter. Jordan also asked Weiss “who instructed you to sign and send your June 7 letter to the Committee” and for details on any conversations Weiss had with Attorney General Merrick Garland or others at the Department of Justice.
It would be unduly charitable to describe Weiss’s current letter as ambiguous on the subject of “ultimate authority.” Weiss doesn’t have it. It should also be noted that Weiss failed to respond in any fashion to Jordan’s questions above. It may be time for Elizabeth Stauffer to go back to work on the “I hate Attorney General Merrick Garland so much I can barely stand to hear him speak” beat.