EXCLUSIVE — David Weiss wanted to bring charges against Hunter Biden in Washington, D.C., the district's federal prosecutor told Congress in new testimony, lending credence to whistleblower claims of preferential treatment for President Joe Biden's son.
Graves also addressed the perception that he"blocked" or"refused to" partner with Weiss on the case, an idea that formed after two whistleblowers and other IRS and FBI witnesses accused Graves of declining to partner with Weiss. The accusation prompted questions about why charges were never brought in Washington and if Graves had hampered Weiss's case.
After they received a briefing, Graves then met with five or six members of his staff on or about March 19, 2022, to decide how to proceed, he said. “The challenge is — particularly when you’re talking about U.S. attorney and U.S. attorney — is you’re bringing in another chain of command. And once you’re partnered, you have to reach a consensus," Graves said."So, as a manager, in general, we don’t want to do that.”
Graves's comments run contrary to Weiss's remarks in a June 30 letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan in which he said,"Common Departmental practice is to contact the United States Attorney's Office for the district in question and determine whether it wants to partner on the case."
That aligns with allegations about timing problems made by the two whistleblowers, both veteran IRS criminal investigators involved in the case. They said they became frustrated in 2022 that the statute of limitations would eventually expire for charges for 2014 and 2015, thereby"sanitiz the most substantive criminal conduct" of the case.