{"id":2031220,"date":"2023-09-13T21:51:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T01:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hunter-biden-investigation-fbi-agent-testimony-confirms-limits-to-david-weisss-authority\/"},"modified":"2023-09-13T21:53:47","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T01:53:47","slug":"hunter-biden-investigation-fbi-agent-testimony-confirms-limits-to-david-weisss-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hunter-biden-investigation-fbi-agent-testimony-confirms-limits-to-david-weisss-authority\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI agent&#8217;s testimony confirms limits to David Weiss&#8217;s authority in Hunter Biden investigation."},"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\">26<\/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%2Fhunter-biden-investigation-fbi-agent-testimony-confirms-limits-to-david-weisss-authority%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=2031220&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--><h2>A Second\u200d FBI Official Testifies About \u200dChallenges in Charging Hunter Biden<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>A second FBI official who appeared before the House Judiciary Committee on Monday testified that now-special counsel David Weiss had \u200cto go through &#8220;other processes&#8221; \u200cto charge Hunter \u2064Biden after U.S. attorneys in Washington, D.C., and \u200cCalifornia allegedly blocked him from bringing charges against\u200d Biden last year.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The revelation came in a 180-page transcript, obtained by the Washington \u2062Examiner, of an interview the committee conducted with an assistant special agent\u200b in charge at the Baltimore Field Office. The agent was accompanied during the interview by a Department of Justice lawyer and an FBI lawyer, according to the transcript.<\/p>\n<h3>Republican Threat Becomes Real for Biden After Impeachment Inquiry<\/h3>\n<p>Asked by committee staff about Weiss&#8217;s charging authority at the time\u2063 of a key Oct. 7, 2022, meeting, the agent said, &#8220;I&#8217;m aware\u200c that obviously charging discussions were happening, and, yes, \u2064there was a difference in the venue for some of those \u200dcharges.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I \u2062remember learning at \u2064some point in the investigation that Mr. Weiss would have to go through his\u2064 other processes because the \u2064U.S. \u200dAttorney&#8217;s \u2064Offices had, I guess, \u200din that sense, using \u2062that terminology,\u2062 wasn&#8217;t going to partner,&#8221; she said in reference to \u2064the Washington, D.C., and \u200bcentral California offices.<\/p>\n<p>The agent works in the Baltimore Field Office under\u200b FBI Special Agent in Charge Thomas Sobocinksi, who testified to the committee last week on the same topic. The \u2063Washington Examiner was asked to withhold her name for this\u2063 story after she conveyed in her\u2063 testimony that an agent\u2062 had received &#8220;concerning&#8221; contact from people after the\u2064 agent&#8217;s name was made public.<\/p>\n<p>Sobocinski\u200c testified \u2062that Weiss seemed to have all of the charging authority he needed, but then, similar to the other agent, he added\u2063 that Weiss would \u2062have to go through an &#8220;administrative process,&#8221;\u2063 which, he said, &#8220;definitely\u200b seemed very cumbersome.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Weiss himself told Congress in June that he had always had the &#8220;ultimate authority&#8221; on\u2062 &#8220;where, when, and whether to file charges&#8221; in the case, but\u2062 he later added \u2062that he was &#8220;geographically limited&#8221; to Delaware but could at any time request &#8220;special attorney&#8221; status to bring charges in \u2062an outside jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<p>The assistant special \u200cagent in charge was also asked about some of the allegations that \u2063a pair of \u200dIRS criminal investigators-turned-whistleblowers made about Weiss&#8217;s authority and \u200cother aspects of the \u200dHunter Biden case in testimonies in \u200cMay. While she said she did\u200b not have all the &#8220;same recollection[s]&#8221; as the IRS officials, she also did not have any concerns with the veracity of their statements when asked about it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t read [the testimony] in \u2062its entirety, but \u200bwhat \u200dI \u2014 what I remember of what I \u2063did see, not that anything was untrue, just that I didn&#8217;t have the same recollection of \u200beverything or the same understanding,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Her and Sobocinski&#8217;s\u2062 testimonies \u200ccome amid House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) launching an impeachment inquiry into\u2063 President \u200bJoe Biden based on allegations he \u200cwas inappropriately involved with his son&#8217;s business dealings while serving as vice president. Republicans have not uncovered definitive evidence to prove the allegations are\u2063 true at\u200b this stage.<\/p>\n<p>Part \u2063of the GOP&#8217;s\u200c inquiry involves investigating if Hunter Biden received &#8220;special treatment&#8221; during the DOJ&#8217;s yearslong investigation of him. The investigation culminated after \u200cabout five years in Weiss, the\u200d case&#8217;s lead \u2063prosecutor, charging the younger Biden in June with two misdemeanor tax\u200c charges and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/victims-blame-soros-backed-prosecutors-for-crime-wave-in-u-s-cities\/\" title=\"Victims Blame Soros-Backed Prosecutors for Crime Wave in U.S. Cities\">felony gun charge<\/a>,\u2062 which Republicans found to be deeply inadequate.<\/p>\n<p>The IRS whistleblowers&#8217; testimony supercharged the DOJ component of \u200cRepublicans&#8217; \u200binquiry when\u2064 they testified \u200cthat\u200d DOJ\u2063 had &#8220;slow-walked&#8221;\u2062 its investigation of Hunter \u200bBiden and allowed statutes of limitations \u200bto \u200brun out on some tax charges.<\/p>\n<p>Gary Shapley, one of the whistleblowers, said \u200cthe controversial meeting he attended on Oct. 7 was a\u200c &#8220;red-line\u2063 meeting&#8221; for him\u200d and that Weiss revealed \u200bat it that he\u200b had requested special \u2062counsel authority from DOJ but was\u2063 denied it.<\/p>\n<p>Weiss also indicated at the meeting \u2063that he had been blocked by U.S.\u2063 attorneys from bringing charges in Washington, D.C., and California, Shapley said.<\/p>\n<p>Weiss, \u200cfor his part, was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hunter-biden-lawyers-say-part-of-deal-to-resolve-felony-gun-charge-remains-intact\/\" title=\"Hunter Biden's lawyers confirm that a portion of the agreement to settle the felony gun charge remains unchanged.\">granted special counsel status<\/a> by Attorney General Merrick Garland in \u2064August \u200bafter\u200d a plea deal for the three charges he brought against Hunter Biden fell apart.\u2064 Prior to August, Weiss had never <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hunter-biden-investigation-fbi-agent-testimony-confirms-limits-to-david-weisss-authority\/\" title=\"FBI agent's testimony confirms limits to David Weiss's authority in Hunter Biden investigation.\">requested special counsel \u2063status<\/a> and only had &#8220;discussions&#8221; about his authority with\u200d DOJ, according to a letter he wrote to Sen. \u2063Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in July.<\/p>\n<p>DOJ pointed to Weiss&#8217;s comments in that letter when asked for comment \u2062on the new FBI \u2064testimonies.<\/p>\n<p>On the issue of the venues \u2063outside Delaware, the FBI assistant special agent said she had more awareness \u200cabout California than Washington, D.C.,\u200c and she confirmed that U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada of California declined to bring charges against \u200bHunter Biden.<\/p>\n<p>Asked what would happen next because of Estrada&#8217;s decision, she said, &#8220;My understanding is \u200bthat \u200c\u2014 and, \u2064again, I don&#8217;t \u2014 I don&#8217;t know the specifics but that Mr. Weiss could \u2014 and I could be incorrect in the terminology, but basically be like a special\u200b \u2014 special\u200b counsel, special AUSA [assistant U.S. attorney] \u2062 \u2014 \u200bI&#8217;m sorry, not special counsel but like a special AUSA, partnering\u200b AUSA, in an attorney&#8217;s office that is outside of his own. So, again, there had been a process. He would still have the authority to do so. It&#8217;s just that now, he would do it differently.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/second-fbi-official-testifies-hunter-biden-charges-blocked\">CLICK HERE TO READ\u200d MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The agent also consistently maintained that communication was an issue in the case, but was stopped \u2064by \u200dthe attorneys at \u200btimes \u200das they cited DOJ&#8217;s longstanding policy of not divulging information \u2063about ongoing investigations.<\/p>\n<p>Asked, for instance, if \u200bshe \u2063was aware of\u2062 any tensions between investigators and Assistant \u200cU.S. \u200bAttorney \u200cLesley Wolf, an attorney interjected, \u200c&#8221;She can\u200b answer\u200d that to the extent there&#8217;s sort of a general response to the existence of tensions, but to the extent it gets into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/irs-hunter-biden-whistleblower-details-roadblocks-and-interference-in-investigation-efforts\/\" title=\"IRS whistleblower exposes obstacles and interference in Hunter Biden investigation.\">specific investigative steps<\/a>, \u200cshe\u2019s not\u2062 authorized to get into that.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A second FBI official testified before the House Judiciary Committee, stating that special counsel David Weiss had to pursue alternative methods to charge Hunter Biden. U.S. attorneys in Washington, D.C., and California reportedly obstructed the charges against Biden in the previous year. This information was revealed in a 180-page transcript obtained from the hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2031221,"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":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2031220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"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\/2031220","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2031220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2031221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2031220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2031220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2031220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}