The U.S. prosecutor investigating President Joe Biden’s son wanted to charge Hunter Biden in Washington but the prosecutor in charge there declined to do so.
“We ultimately did not join,” Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told members of Congress in a recent interview, according to a transcript reviewed by The Epoch Times.
Mr. Graves, an appointee of President Biden who worked for the president’s campaign, recounted to Congress being approached by the prosecutor probing Mr. Biden, David Weiss, in early 2022.
Mr. Weiss, the U.S. attorney for the District of Delaware, “said that he had an investigation that he had been conducting,” Mr. Graves said. “Some of the charges related to that investigation needed to be venued out of the district, and he described the logistical support that he needed.”
Mr. Graves said, “He said: Definitely need the logistical support, and we can talk about joining the investigation.”
Mr. Weiss’s request for assistance included Mr. Graves convening a grand jury, to which prosecutors present proposed charges.
U.S. attorneys can bring charges in other districts by transferring the case to that district or partnering with the district, according to Mr. Graves.
“Either you take over the case for him, or you facilitate him prosecuting the case?” he was asked. “Yes,” he replied.
But Mr. Graves said he proposed a hybrid model that, as far as he knew, had never been used before.
Mr. Graves met with a top official in his office and asked him to brief assistant U.S. attorneys in the office on the matter. Mr. Graves requested a recommendation on how to proceed.
Mr. Graves later met with the principal assistant U.S. attorney and other officials who work for him.
The office ultimately, after three weeks, decided not to partner with Mr. Weiss or serve as local counsel for the case.
“I unfortunately cannot get into the why without getting into the case specifics of an ongoing investigation,” Mr. Graves said.
The decision was communicated to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware “at the line level,” or to lower-level officials, he said. Mr. Graves never followed up with Mr. Weiss, but claimed Mr. Weiss was still able to bring charges in Washington and that his office would provide assistance.
“I was very clear in my initial conversation with U.S. Attorney Weiss that we would provide support,” Mr. Graves said.
“Biden appointed USA said they could not charge in his district,” the notes stated.
Mr. Weiss never brought charges against Mr. Biden outside of Delaware. He charged Mr. Biden in Delaware after the whistleblowers went to Congress.
Mr. Graves said his office did not block Mr. Weiss from bringing charges, having taken no “steps to stop an investigation from moving forward.”
Mr. Graves did say that Mr. Weiss could not bring charges in another district without approval from multiple offices, including the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Tax Division.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, another appointee of President Biden, has alleged that Mr. Weiss had the “ultimate charging authority,” though Mr. Weiss has since acknowledged that he needed to request other U.S. attorneys partner with him to bring charges outside of his district.
If the attorneys rejected the request, Mr. Weiss said he could ask for special attorney status. He said he was “assured” by an unspecified person or persons that he would be granted that status in any district where charges could be brought against Mr. Biden.
“Mr. Weiss has ... said he followed the normal processes of the department and that he was never denied the ability to bring a case in another jurisdiction,” Mr. Garland claimed.
Mr. Graves told members that he did speak again with officials in Delaware in April or May but could not divulge the specifics of the conversation.
“I could just say at a high level, they alerted me to something about the status of Delaware’s investigation,” he said.
Mr. Graves also said he did not see a need to recuse himself, despite his close ties to President Biden, including making financial contributions to the president’s campaign and working for it.
“There was no conflict of interest and no reason for me to do so,” Mr. Graves said. He added later: “We have investigations all the time ... the Department does, of individuals who are members of the administration. ... A family member of the administration? I don’t see it as necessarily a conflict of interest or perception of a conflict of interest.”
