David Weiss asked officials at the Department of Justice headquarters to grant him the power to prosecute Hunter Biden outside his jurisdiction in February 2022, but the DOJ was not willing to provide him with the authority right away.
"You want me to say it's a denial, but it's not," Weiss said."Not when I know that, weeks later, I was specifically told, 'You can proceed.'" “We talked a bit about the fact that it’s often the case in D.C. that a DOJ component, whether it’s Tax Division or Public Integrity, would develop a case and reach out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. and give them an opportunity to participate,” Weiss said. “So the discussion was let’s proceed in a typical fashion. ... And, as you know, ultimately — this didn’t happen in this conversation but down the road — I was given the authority to proceed if I chose to do so.
The pair of whistleblowers claimed that Weiss asked for elevated authority and that the DOJ denied it. Instead, they said, DOJ officials instructed Weiss in early 2022 "to follow DOJ's process,” which they said was a blow to the case because the statute of limitations for charges related to 2014 and 2015 would expire that year.
"I’ll address it in the report, but even though the statute of limitations has lapsed and even though charges won’t be filed, if there were to be an outstanding tax prosecution, there is no reason to believe that evidence pertaining to prior years, or witnesses involved in prior years, wouldn’t be part of that litigation," Weiss said.
The GOP has zeroed in on Weiss's authority over the Hunter Biden case as a top issue after having exhaustive and at times muddled back-and-forth communication with him and the DOJ regarding the different special authority designations and when Weiss may have sought them.