Hunter Biden prosecutor said he was NOT the ‘deciding person’ on charging the president’s
Newly released notes taken by IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley on the Hunter Biden probe back up his previous claims that top prosecutor David Weiss said he was not the ‘deciding person’ on the case.
The handwritten notes also directly refute a counteracting claim by an FBI agent also on Hunter’s case.
DailyMail.com obtained IRS Supervisory Agent Gary Shapley’s handwritten notes during an October 7, 2022 meeting with Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss – who was appointed as the top prosecutor on the Hunter case.
He quotes Weiss saying during that meeting that he was ‘not the deciding person’ on charging Hunter Biden with tax crimes, raising questions about potential improper handling of the case by DOJ. Shapley also recorded down that ‘Main DOJ’ said ‘no’ to Weiss’ request for special counsel status in D.C.
Shapley’s attorneys sent the House Judiciary Committee a copy of his notes from the meeting following an FBI agent’s counterclaim – that Weiss actually never admitted that he was not the deciding person on the case.
The Washington Post published the account contradicting Shapley’s claims by FBI agent Thomas Sobocinski Tuesday, based on an obtained congressional transcript. Shapley’s lawyers say Sobocinski’s claims are inaccurate.
The back-and-forth comes a day after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unilaterally launched an impeachment inquiry of President Biden over his alleged connections to his son’s business dealings. As part of the inquiry, the GOP is also examining potential political interference by the Justice Department in the Hunter Biden criminal investigation.
Emails show officials from DoJ contacted lawyers for IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley ahead of his July testimony to discuss his allegations about the Hunter Biden probe in April
Shapley wrote in the notebook: ‘Weiss stated – He is not the deciding person’
Shapley wrote in the notes: ‘Weiss requested Special Counsel status in DC + Main DOJ said ‘NO’
‘Yesterday the Washington Post published a story reportedly based on a transcript it obtained of the Committee’s interview of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski,’ the letter by Shapley’s attorneys states.
‘Sobocinski was one of seven attendees at the Oct. 7, 2022, meeting,’ the letter continues.
According to his attorneys, Shapley wrote an email to his chain of command using notes he compiled during the meeting almost immediately after it concluded.
Shapley turned over his Oct. 7 email to the House Ways and Means Committee detailing the events that transpired during the meeting, including Weiss’ statements about not having the final decision on the case.
‘However, Mr. Sobocinski apparently acknowledged that he took no notes in the meeting, nor did he document it in any contemporaneous fashion afterwards. By contrast, SSA Shapley took notes during the meeting.’
Shapley’s attorneys attached the original version of the ‘contemporaneous handwritten notes’ that redacts information that has not yet been released by the Ways and Means Committee.
The notes, dated 10/7 in the top left corner, contain a handwritten scribble about a comment Weiss made during the meeting.
Shapley wrote in the notebook: ‘Weiss stated – He is not the deciding person.’
That directly contradicts Sobocinski’s testimony saying that he would have remembered if Weiss had said that he was not the deciding person.
In the testimony first obtained by the Washington Post, Sobocinski said he ‘never felt that [Weiss] needed approval’ to bring charges.
In addition, his understanding was that Weiss ‘had the authority to bring whatever he needed to do.’
He continued: ‘I never thought that anybody was there above David Weiss to say no.’
‘I went into that meeting believing he had the authority, and I have left that meeting believing he had the authority to bring charges.’
The discrepancies in testimony comes a month after Attorney General Merrick Garland promoted Weiss to special counsel status.
Shapley wrote in the notes: ‘Weiss requested Special Counsel status in DC + Main DOJ said ‘no.’
It was nearly an entire year later that Garland decided to promote Weiss to special counsel.
Garland’s decision came after mounting pressure and IRS whistleblower allegations that Hunter received ‘special treatment’ during the criminal probe.
For months, Garland had maintained that Weiss had the ‘full authority’ to bring charges against Hunter without restraint and in any district.
But Weiss himself contradicted himself, at first telling the House Judiciary Committee he had ‘responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges’, then latter saying his charging authority ‘is geographically limited to my home district’.
He also claimed in a July letter that he had not asked Garland for special counsel status.
That contradicts Shapley’s notes that he was denied the elevation by ‘Main DOJ.’
But now that he has special counsel status, he can charge Hunter in any district around the country.
IRS agents Joe Ziegler and Gary Shapley testified under oath to House Republicans that their investigation ‘supported felony and misdemeanor tax charges,’ which were ultimately not brought against the president’s son Hunter due to political pressures.
Weiss tried to bring felony charges against him in Washington, D.C., they said, but was blocked by the district’s top federal prosecutor Matthew Graves, a Biden appointee.
The ‘special treatment’ for Hunter became a pattern that kept happening over and over, said the whistleblowers who were told they would get in ‘hot water’ if they tried to speak with President Joe Biden’s adult children and grandchildren over the course of their investigation.
Hunter appeared in federal court on July 26 prepared to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and walk away with just a slap on the wrist and no prison time.
Republicans slammed as a ‘sweetheart deal’ that Biden’s DOJ put together to protect the president’s son.
Lawyers for an IRS whistleblower in Hunter Biden’s criminal investigation are accusing top Justice Department officials of meddling in the case and showing favoritism to the First Son
However, after Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned the ‘diversion agreement’ of Hunter’s plea deal – a clause that gave him blanket immunity for a wide range of other potential charges, including illegal foreign lobbying – the deal blew up spectacularly.
Noreika dismissed the charges in Delaware after requests from the prosecution last month.
Last week, federal prosecutors indicated that they will charge Hunter with a new gun crime by the end of the month.
But they could still be bringing additional charges down the road related to his foreign business venture.