Attorney General Merrick Garland responded to whistleblower claims accusing him of stifling the Hunter Biden investigation, saying he'd be "happy" to address the allegations and insisting that he remained far-removed from the probe.
A transcript released Thursday showed that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent who supervised the inquiry into the president's son told congressional lawmakers that the Justice Department impeded the investigation and whittled away the most serious evidence of the alleged tax crimes.
His detailed account of prosecutorial disinterest in the Hunter Biden case reinforces Republican criticisms that Biden got a "sweetheart deal" when he plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors earlier this week.
In his potentially damning testimony, IRS agent Gary Shapley said that during a 2022 meeting, Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss—a holdover from the Trump administration who led the Hunter Biden probe— told FBI and IRS agents that he was not the "deciding official on whether charges are filed." Garland, who was appointed to his post after Weiss opened his investigation, has repeatedly said that Weiss had full authority over the case.
Asked about Shapley's allegations during a Friday briefing, Garland insisted that Weiss was "permitted to continue his investigation and to make a decision to prosecute any way in which he wanted to and in any district in which he wanted to."
"I don't know how it would be possible for anybody to block him from bringing a prosecution given that he has this authority," Garland told reporters. "I'm saying he was given complete authority to make all decisions on his own."
The attorney general also referred members of the press to the June 7 letter Weiss wrote to the House Judiciary Committee in which he said he made his decisions independently.
"Throughout my tenure as U.S. Attorney my decisions have been made—and with respect to the matter must be made—without reference to political considerations," Weiss wrote.
Garland also said that Weiss never made a request to have a special counsel appointed, but noted that the U.S. attorney "had, in fact, more authority than the special counsel would have had."
He added that he would support Weiss appearing before Congress and testifying against the allegations made by whistleblowers like Shapley.
"I certainly understand that some have chosen to attack the integrity of the Justice Department, as components and its employees, by claiming that we do not treat like cases alike," Garland said on Friday. "This constitutes an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy and essential to the safety of the American people. Nothing could be further from the truth"
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
