{"id":1964332,"date":"2023-07-05T07:10:01","date_gmt":"2023-07-05T11:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/holiday-weekend-news-dump-implodes-merrick-garlands-biden-investigation-testimony\/"},"modified":"2023-07-05T07:12:05","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T11:12:05","slug":"holiday-weekend-news-dump-implodes-merrick-garlands-biden-investigation-testimony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/holiday-weekend-news-dump-implodes-merrick-garlands-biden-investigation-testimony\/","title":{"rendered":"Merrick Garland&#8217;s Biden-investigation testimony crumbles due to holiday weekend news dump."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fholiday-weekend-news-dump-implodes-merrick-garlands-biden-investigation-testimony%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1964332&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>A new letter sent by Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss to the House Judiciary Committee suggests Attorney General Merrick Garland lied to Congress when he testified that Weiss \u201chas full authority\u201d to charge Hunter Biden in \u201cother jurisdictions.\u201d Whether Garland committed perjury will all come down to the meaning of the word \u201chas.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Late Friday, just as Americans unplugged for the long Independence Day weekend, Weiss confirmed he didn\u2019t really <em>have <\/em>\u201cultimate authority\u201d over the Hunter Biden criminal investigation. In his letter, Weiss gave away the deceptive word game he has been playing with Congress \u2014 and Garland has been playing with America. More significantly, the letter suggests Biden\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-sidelined-grassley-in-questioning-whistleblowers-because-he-knew-way-too-much\/\" title=\"Democrats sidelined Grassley in questioning whistleblowers due to his extensive knowledge.\">attorney general lied<\/a> to Congress and that everything the IRS whistleblower has said is true.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1307968242\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-bd83b19c595ab5c770a6b04552e27d2d fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-bd83b19c595ab5c770a6b04552e27d2d\"><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What the Whistleblower Said<\/h2>\n<p>Weiss\u2019s letter followed the House Ways and Means Committee\u2019s release of IRS Criminal Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley\u2019s testimony and related exhibits concerning the Hunter Biden investigation headed out of the Delaware U.S. attorney\u2019s office. The transcript of Shapley\u2019s May 26, 2023, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/holiday-weekend-news-dump-implodes-merrick-garlands-biden-investigation-testimony\/\" title=\"Merrick Garland's Biden-investigation testimony crumbles due to holiday weekend news dump.\">closed-door testimony revealed<\/a> the IRS agent had told the House committee that during an Oct. 7, 2022 meeting between Weiss and senior-level managers, Weiss allegedly said, \u201cI am not the deciding person on whether charges are filed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to Shapley\u2019s testimony, Weiss then explained that the Biden-appointed U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Matthew Graves, refused to allow Weiss to charge Hunter Biden in the D.C. district \u2014 the necessary venue for certain charges based on Hunter Biden\u2019s residency during the relevant time. Shapley noted, \u201cWeiss stated that he subsequently asked for special counsel authority from Main DOJ at that time and was denied that authority.\u201d \u201cInstead,\u201d Shapley recounted, Weiss \u201cwas told to follow the process,\u201d which sent Weiss through another Biden-appointed U.S. attorney, for other potential criminal charges based in California. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Without the cooperation of Biden-appointed U.S. attorneys, Shapley told the House committee, Weiss was unable to bring charges outside his Delaware district. And Weiss\u2019s lack of authority led to the statute of limitations expiring on felony tax charges against the president\u2019s son for the 2014 and 2015 tax years.<\/p>\n<p>To corroborate his testimony, Shapley provided the House Ways and Means Committee with an email he had sent a colleague soon after the meeting summarizing the key points. That Oct. 7 email recounted the details to which Shapley had testified and, significantly, Shapley copied the special agent in charge of the FBI D.C. field office, Darrell J. Waldon, who had also attended the Oct. 7 meeting. Waldon would then reply to Shapley\u2019s email summary, \u201cThanks Gary. You covered it all,\u201d indicating Shapley had accurately recounted Weiss\u2019s representation that he is \u201cnot the deciding person on whether charges are filed.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-65c9f9526b920d5e6752372a077b09ea fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-65c9f9526b920d5e6752372a077b09ea\"><\/div>\n<p>The release of Shapley\u2019s testimony and the collaborating email was huge because it indicated both Weiss and Garland had deceived Congress. Weiss for his part had sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee on June 7, 2023, stating:\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>I want to make clear that, as the Attorney General has stated, I have been granted ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges and for making decisions necessary to preserve the integrity of the prosecution, consistent with federal law, the Principles of Federal Prosecution, and Departmental regulations.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Weiss\u2019s Friday letter was in response to questions House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan posed to the Delaware U.S. attorney about his claim \u201cto have been granted ultimate authority\u201d over the Hunter Biden investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In his pre-Fourth of July weekend epistle, the Delaware U.S. attorney said he stood by what he wrote in the June 7, 2023 letter. He added, however, that he wished to expand on what he meant. Weiss then acknowledged that as the U.S. attorney for the District of Delaware, his charging authority is geographically limited to his home district. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf venue for a case lies elsewhere, common Departmental practice is to contact the United States Attorney\u2019s Office for the district in question and determine whether it wants to partner on the case,\u201d the letter noted. \u201cIf not, I may request Special Attorney status from the Attorney General pursuant to 28 U.S.C. \u00a7 515.\u201d Weiss concluded by stressing that he had \u201cbeen assured that, if necessary after the above process,\u201d he \u201cwould be granted \u00a7 515 Authority in the District of Columbia, the Central District of California, or any other district where charges could be brought in this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-ec0b6ec0d8eb8c404a24275c97889563 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-ec0b6ec0d8eb8c404a24275c97889563\"><\/div>\n<p>There was no reason Weiss could not have provided this explanation earlier \u2014 or at least no good reason: The Delaware U.S. attorney clearly intended to convey to Congress the false impression that he had \u201cultimate authority\u201d to charge Hunter Biden, which would in turn suggest the IRS whistleblower\u2019s claims to the contrary were false.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But Weiss\u2019s clarification confirms he lacked \u201cultimate authority,\u201d which is entirely consistent with Shapley\u2019s testimony. In fact, had Shapley falsely summarized the statements Weiss made during the Oct. 7, 2022 meeting, Weiss could have easily said so. That he didn\u2019t speaks volumes.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Lies, Lies, Lies<\/h2>\n<p>While Weiss\u2019s clarification from late last week is technically consistent with what he told Congress in his June 7, 2022 letter, the same cannot be said for Garland\u2019s earlier testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On March 1, 2023, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, asked Garland whether Weiss had \u201cindependent charging authority over certain criminal allegations against the President\u2019s son outside the District of Delaware.\u201d After responding that Weiss \u201cwould have to bring the case in another district,\u201d Garland <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?526249-1\/justice-department-oversight-hearing\">added<\/a> that \u201cthe U.S. attorney in Delaware has been advised that he <em>has full authority<\/em> \u2026 to bring cases in other jurisdictions if he feels it\u2019s necessary\u201d (emphasis added).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But according to Weiss\u2019s latest letter, he didn\u2019t <em>have<\/em><strong> <\/strong>\u201cfull authority\u201d and still doesn\u2019t. Rather he had been assured, \u201cif necessary,\u201d he \u201c<em>would be granted<\/em> \u00a7 515 Authority in the District of Columbia, the Central District of California, or any other district where charges could be brought in this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Given Shapley\u2019s testimony, there is a huge difference between Weiss having \u201cfull authority\u201d to bring charges in other districts and being promised a grant of such authority. If Weiss had \u201cfull authority,\u201d as Garland told Congress, that would mean that either the whistleblower lied to Congress or Weiss lied to his senior team handling the Hunter Biden investigation. It would also clear Garland, the DOJ, and FBI headquarters of interfering in the investigation \u2014 a second allegation the whistleblower leveled in his testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee.<\/p>\n<p>With both Weiss and Garland playing word games with Congress, it seems likely Weiss also sought to mislead the House when he stressed that he \u201chad been assured\u201d he \u201cwould be granted \u00a7 515 Authority in the District of Columbia, the Central District of California, or any other district where charges could be brought in this matter.\u201d That language suggests Weiss always had that assurance, but from the whistleblower\u2019s testimony, it appears Weiss had previously requested such authority and been denied it. (The whistleblower and Waldon likely confused Weiss\u2019s reference to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prosecutor-in-hunter-biden-criminal-case-releases-letter-on-two-issues\/\" title=\"Prosecutor in Hunter Biden case addresses 'two matters' in released letter.\">special attorney status<\/a> with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-ag-bill-barr-to-merrick-garland-appoint-a-special-counsel-already\/\" title=\"Former AG Bill Barr To Merrick Garland: Appoint A Special Counsel Already\">special counsel status<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>A belated promise by Garland to give Weiss special attorney authority under \u00a7 515 means nothing, as the statute of limitations has already run out for the felony tax charges. So the question remains: Was Weiss denied such authority, as the whistleblower claims Weiss told him? And when did Garland assure Weiss he would have \u00a7 515 authority? For that matter, why wouldn\u2019t Garland have immediately conferred such authority on Weiss?<\/p>\n<p>It seems unlikely Congress or the American public will learn the answers to these questions any time soon. Weiss appears to be coordinating his communications with Garland, as demonstrated by his reference in Friday\u2019s letter to the DOJ\u2019s Department of Legislative Affairs \u2014 further proof that Weiss is no more independent from the Biden administration than the rest of the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-487c86fa03d79f0f66325326bc7b7d00 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-487c86fa03d79f0f66325326bc7b7d00\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss&#8217;s recent letter to the House Judiciary Committee implies that Attorney General Merrick Garland may have misled Congress. Garland&#8217;s testimony stating that Weiss &#8220;has full authority&#8221; to prosecute Hunter Biden in &#8220;other jurisdictions&#8221; is now under scrutiny. The interpretation of the word &#8220;has&#8221; will determine if Garland committed perjury. This development occurred late on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":1964333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1964332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1964332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1964333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1964332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1964332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1964332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}