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U.S. attorney to Congress: Hunter Biden prosecutor wasn’t blocked

Case alleged to be mishandled by Justice Department

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press
Published: October 25, 2023, 7:34pm

WASHINGTON — A second U.S. Attorney has testified to Congress that the prosecutor overseeing the Hunter Biden investigation had full authority over filing charges, rebutting whistleblower claims that Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss didn’t have the final say on the case against the president’s son.

The allegation that Weiss was blocked from filing tax charges in California and Washington D.C., is one of the more explosive from Internal Revenue Service Agents who testified as part of a GOP probe that the case had been “slow-walked” and mishandled by the Justice Department.

Martin Estrada, the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, said he told the House Judiciary Committee behind closed doors Tuesday that he understood that Weiss had full authority to bring charges and offered him logistical support. “I did not and could not ‘block’ Mr. Weiss since he did not need my approval to bring charges in my district,” he said in a statement.

That echoes testimony from Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., who testified last week that while he declined to partner with Weiss, he never did anything to block him and instead offered logistical support.

An attorney for IRS Agent Joseph Ziegler, on the other hand, said declining to partner with Weiss amounted to blocking him from going forward with the case outside his district. Lawyers for supervisory special agent Gary Shapley said U.S. Attorneys appointed by President Joe Biden “shouldn’t have been involved at all because of their conflict of interest.”

Weiss also said in writing he had full authority over the case. He is scheduled to testify on the subject Nov. 7. While that testimony will also take place outside the public view, speaking about an open investigation is a very unusual step that Justice Department officials have said was warranted to “correct any misrepresentations” about work done on case.

The five-year investigation into Hunter Biden had been expected to end with a plea deal this summer, but it imploded during a July plea hearing.

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