As RedState reported, AG Merrick Garland answered questions on Friday related to the sweetheart deal that was recently given to Hunter Biden. Despite five years of investigation and numerous other possible chargeable crimes, including drugs, sex trafficking, false statements, and tax fraud, the president’s son escaped with two misdemeanors, pre-trial diversion, and no jail time.
How did things get to that point? An IRS whistleblower named Gary Shapley has been at the center of exposing the DOJ’s cover-up of the matter, and Garland’s response was to call him a liar without actually saying it directly.
When further pressed on whether DOJ leadership stepped in at any point to stop Weiss from charging Hunter Biden with more serious crimes in other jurisdictions, Garland had this to say.
GARLAND: I’m saying he was given complete authority to make all decisions on his own.
It’s incredibly telling that when given the chance to just say “no,” Garland chose to hedge instead. After all, the question isn’t just whether Weiss had the authority to make decisions or not, but whether other DOJ officials, including possibly Garland, interfered in those decisions in some way.
That’s the charge that Shapley made in his testimony, which was given under oath before Congress. So who’s telling the truth? In response, Shapley put out a statement via his lawyers that can only be described as calling Garland’s bluff.
In an October 7, 2022, meeting at the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Attorney David Weiss told six witnesses he did not have authority to charge in other districts and had thus requested special counsel status.
Astonishingly, Shapley is now actually naming the six witnesses present at the meeting in question, including members of the FBI and IRS investigative teams that were working the Hunter Biden case. That certainly adds to his credibility. If he weren’t telling the truth, there’s very little reason to believe Shapley would be naming names and essentially challenging others to go under oath about what was said.
Compare that to Garland’s response, which was coy at best, insisting that Weiss had the power to charge in any district while not actually answering whether he was ever stopped from doing so, if even with a “suggestion” from the upper levels of the DOJ.
For my money, the guy who is naming names and who has been willing to go under oath is far more believable than the guy hiding behind weasel phrases while refusing to answer basic questions. It’s fairly clear that the DOJ stepped in and put boundaries around Weiss.
That Weiss is playing along isn’t surprising. A lot is made of the fact that Donald Trump appointed him, but the former president wasn’t exactly known for doing much homework on mid-level appointments. It’s perfectly possible that Weiss, despite being nominated by Trump, is trying to protect the DOJ from further blowback in what is a completely self-inflicted scandal.
The questions aren’t going to stop. The investigations into this aren’t going anywhere. Garland and Weiss better buckle up because it sure seems like Shapley has the receipts.