Hunter Biden prosecutor coordinated with DOJ to reply to Congress: emails

Delaware US Attorney David Weiss consulted Justice Department officials about congressional requests for information regarding his five-year-long investigation of Hunter Biden, challenging the prosecutor’s own signed statements that he had “ultimate authority” to bring charges against the first son.

Weiss’s office traded emails with the DOJ’s Office of Legislative Affairs and Office of Legal Counsel about how to respond to questions posed by House Republicans about the case, according to emails obtained by the conservative Heritage Foundation and viewed by The Post Monday.

The heavily-redacted messages show officials at main Justice offered to “take the lead” from Weiss in drafting responses to GOP lawmakers who brought up Hunter’s case.

On May 9, 2022, for example, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) sent a letter to Weiss asking about the Hunter probe, which prompted a back-and-forth between the Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) and Weiss’ office.

“I will send this along now to [redacted]. Anything else you’d like me to convey or ask?” Assistant US Attorney Shannon Hanson told Weiss in a June 2, 2022 message.

“I don’t think it matters. Does it?” Weiss responded.

Later the same day, Hanson confirmed OLA “was working on it.”

When Weiss asked Hanson for an update on the draft a few days later, she said nothing had been sent.

“Not to my knowledge,” she said in a June 7, 2022, email, adding that main Justice knew the Delaware office wanted “to review the draft letter” beforehand.

“Joe Gaeta just responded that they are working on a response,” Hanson said in another email the same day, referring to the then-deputy assistant attorney general overseeing OLA.

On June 9, 2022, the OLA told Grassley and Johnson that because of Justice Department policy it could not comment on an ongoing investigation.

Other emails in June and July 2022 show Weiss confirming to his team that he would “not respond” to the Republicans’ letter until apparently hearing back from the Justice Department.

On July 8, 2022, Grassley and Johnson sent a follow-up request that was similarly denied by the OLA, which said in an email to Weiss’ office the same day it would “take the lead on drafting a response for the Department.”

Several emails also reveal prosecutors in Weiss’ office sharing news articles about the status of the investigation, including a December 7, 2020, report from The Post on Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) asking then-Attorney General Bill Barr to appoint a special counsel. On Aug. 11, Garland elevated Weiss to that position, despite DOJ regulations indicating a special counsel must come from outside the government.

Heritage’s Oversight Project, which sued the DOJ to obtain the messages as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, claims that they undercut Weiss’ statement in a June 7, 2023, letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that he was given “ultimate authority” to bring charges in the case.

“It’s insane that we needed a judicial order to produce a few documents after months and months of the Department of Justice throwing every roadblock they possibly could, at the taxpayers’ expense of course,” Oversight Project director Mike Howell told The Post. “They hadn’t even turned these documents over to Congress, who asked for them at the same time we did.”

“Now we know why they were fighting the release: the claims of Weiss’ independence were a sham,” he added. “Garland’s political lobbyists were controlling congressional communications to the Hill, while the Hill thought they were going to be hearing from Weiss himself.”

The disclosures were first reported by The Federalist.

The Oversight Project expects further redacted documents as part of its records request, following the first court-ordered disclosures this past Friday. It expects the next batch by Oct. 31.

Weiss rankled congressional Republicans earlier this year when taking the lead in responding to a letter Jordan sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland about Weiss’ authority, further implying coordination between the two.

In a June 30, 2023, letter, Weiss went further and said that his earlier response to Jordan had been “drafted” by his office — though the newly released emails raise questions about who may have actually composed the missive.

A spokeswoman for Weiss’ office declined to comment.