Staff Reports
With just three weeks until U.S. Attorney David Weiss, now a special counsel, was scheduled to testify before Congress, it remains uncertain whether he will actually appear. The Justice Department has already blocked other witnesses from complying with congressional subpoenas in House Republican investigations into the Biden family’s business dealings, indicating that there may be roadblocks ahead for the House inquiry. Negotiations between the House Judiciary Committee and the Justice Department are ongoing to determine how and when Weiss will appear before Congress, if at all. The Justice Department has not yet cancelled Weiss’s planned appearance this fall.
It is unclear whether Weiss’s testimony would take place at a public hearing or behind closed doors for a transcribed interview. Congressional investigators generally prefer closed-door settings to gather more useful information. Additionally, Weiss’s status as a special counsel may provide the Justice Department with more tools to resist congressional oversight. The Justice Department declined to comment on whether Weiss still intends to testify.
In July, the Justice Department seemed willing to allow Weiss, who was then the U.S. attorney in Delaware, to testify despite the ongoing criminal investigation into Hunter Biden. However, the chain of events that followed Hunter Biden’s court hearing in July led to Weiss’s appointment as special counsel and raised doubts about further cooperation between congressional investigators and the Justice Department. Last week, DOJ officials informed lawmakers that they would not allow two FBI agents who had worked on the Hunter Biden investigation to comply with subpoenas for their testimony, citing the criminal proceedings and House Republicans’ push for the agents to appear at depositions without DOJ representation.
House Republicans are seeking corroboration of what transpired at a meeting in October 2022, where Weiss allegedly admitted that the DOJ had denied his request for special counsel status and that two U.S. attorneys appointed by President Joe Biden had hindered his ability to charge Hunter Biden. As negotiations continue, the two FBI agents could eventually undergo transcribed interviews with DOJ lawyers present. While the DOJ has refused to make more than 11 requested witnesses available for interviews, lawmakers are considering their options for challenging this obstruction.
According to constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley, the Justice Department can answer some of the questions without jeopardizing any investigation. FBI agents or witnesses involved in ongoing investigations have previously testified before Congress before the conclusion of criminal proceedings. However, in the Hunter Biden case, there has been no indication of collaboration between the DOJ and Congress. This has left House Republicans frustrated with the lack of answers and may push them closer to an impeachment inquiry. Critics argue that the current evidence does not sufficiently implicate Joe Biden, but lawmakers believe that an impeachment inquiry would provide them with additional tools, such as better standing in litigation and more funding for investigators, to combat the Biden administration’s stonewalling.
