Special counsel David Weiss, who is leading the government's case against Hunter Biden, will appear before Congress next month for a closed-door interview, a rare move for a special counsel amid an ongoing prosecution.
Weiss will meet with the House Judiciary Committee on Nov. 7, a source familiar with the schedule confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
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House Republicans, who are leading an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, are investigating as part of that inquiry allegations President Joe Biden's son received preferential treatment from the Department of Justice during its yearslong investigation of him. Republicans view Weiss, who has overseen the investigation for about four years, as a top witness.
The department had initially agreed in July that Weiss would testify in the fall, but that commitment became an uncertainty after Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware, as special counsel in the Hunter Biden case in August.
Garland said at the time that he did so because Weiss had asked for the authority. Weiss's request came after a plea deal between Weiss and Hunter Biden fell apart because of concerns from a judge that the deal inappropriately precluded Hunter Biden from being charged with violations outside of those addressed in the plea deal.
Weiss, as special counsel, indicted Hunter Biden for a 2018 gun purchase incident, and the first son has since pleaded not guilty to those charges. Based on the contents of the plea deal, Weiss is also still expected to charge Hunter Biden with willfully failing to pay taxes on time in 2017 and 2018.
Whistleblowers and several other witnesses Congress has met with in recent months have indicated the DOJ was also interested in charging the president's son with tax crimes from 2014 and 2015. Questions remain about why those charges have not materialized. The whistleblowers have alleged it is because top government officials involved in the case made investigative decisions to benefit Hunter Biden.
Weiss's interview comes as the Judiciary Committee, in coordination with the Ways and Means Committee and Oversight Committee, meet with numerous witnesses involved in the Hunter Biden case.
The committees identified 13 people this summer who they said were relevant to their inquiry into the DOJ, and they have since met with about half a dozen of those.
Oftentimes, the witnesses are accompanied by department lawyers and limited in what they can speak about at the interviews. Weiss's interview will likely follow a similar pattern. He is, however, required as special counsel to release a publicly available report once he concludes his investigation into Hunter Biden that details all of his prosecutorial decisions.
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A review of several transcripts of the interviews shows that the witnesses and lawyers tend to cite the DOJ's policy of not discussing ongoing investigations as their reason for withholding certain information.
The DOJ declined to comment about Weiss's forthcoming testimony.