Federal prosecutor denies seeking special counsel status for Hunter Biden case in letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Delaware U.S. Attorney Denies Claims of Denied Special Counsel Status in Hunter Biden Investigation

In an ongoing investigation of President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss has issued a letter denying claims that he was denied special counsel status.

In a letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Monday, Mr. Weiss clarified that he never requested special counsel status to bring charges against Mr. Biden outside of Delaware.

“I wish to make one point clear: in this case, I have not requested Special Counsel designation pursuant to 28 CFR § 600 et seq,” Mr. Weiss wrote, citing the special counsel statute. “Rather, I had discussions with Departmental officials regarding potential appointment under 28 U.S.C. § 515, which would have allowed me to file charges in a district outside my own without the partnership of the local U.S. Attorney.”

The statute, 28 U.S.C. § 515, grants the DOJ the ability to allow special attorneys to bring charges in jurisdictions even if those special attorneys are not residents of the jurisdiction where the charges are brought. Mr. Weiss said, “I was assured that I would be granted this authority if it proved necessary.”

However, Mr. Weiss’s letter contradicts claims made by IRS special agent Gary Shapley, a whistleblower within the agency.

In May, Mr. Shapley testified to the House Ways and Means Committee that Mr. Weiss had requested special counsel status from the U.S. Department of Justice, but his request was denied. Empower Oversight, a group representing Mr. Shapley, issued a statement on June 24, claiming that Mr. Weiss had described requesting special counsel status during an Oct. 7, 2022, meeting with members of the investigative team. Mr. Shapley’s representatives have stated that five other witnesses, including Baltimore FBI Special Agent in Charge Tom Sobocinski, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ryeshia Holley, and IRS Special Agent in Charge Darrell Waldon, could support his claims about the Oct. 7 meeting.

Mr. Waldon did appear to corroborate Mr. Shapley’s characterization of the Oct. 7 meeting in an email four days later, which Mr. Shapley’s legal team has shared with Congress. In an Oct. 11 email, Mr. Shapley sent his IRS colleague a summary of the Oct. 7 meeting, including a point that Mr. Weiss had requested to file a charge in Washington D.C. and requested special counsel status but was denied on both counts. In reply, Mr. Waldon wrote, “You covered it all” without disputing any of the points Mr. Shapley memorialized in his notes.

NTD News reached out to Empower Oversight for comment but did not receive a response by the time this article was published.

Ongoing Investigation

Last month, the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s office initiated an investigation into Hunter Biden.