This week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) declared that if whistleblower claims that the United States Attorney for the District of the State of Delaware David Weiss was considering naming a special counsel in the Dept. of Justice’s Hunter Biden investigation are accurate, an impeachment investigation of AG Merrick Garland would likely be imminent.
McCarthy shared accusations made by IRS Criminal Supervisory Special Agent Gary A. Shapley Jr. on Twitter, stating that if they are accurate, “this will be an important element of a larger impeachment investigation into Merrick Garland’s weaponizing of the DOJ.”
He retweeted a tweet from Byron York, the chief correspondent for the Washington Examiner, who stated that Shapley said Weiss sought to charge Biden in DC. Additionally, York cited Shapley’s defense team’s assertion that six witnesses heard him say he “didn’t have the authority to charge in different districts and had therefore asked for special counsel status” at a meeting on October 7, 2022, inside Weiss’s office.
The claim included the following details:
“These six witnesses included IRS Assistant Special Agent in Charge Gary Shapley, Baltimore FBI Special Agent in Charge Tom Sobocinski, and Special Agent in Charge Darrell Waldon, and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ryeshia Holley. Mr. Waldon also solely and simultaneously corroborated Mr. Shapley’s account in an email that is now available to the public as Exhibit 10, which is located after page 148 of the testimony transcript. If these claims were untrue, Mr. Weiss would not have made them during the meeting on October 7, 2022, according to Mr. Shapley. It is the responsibility of Mr. Weiss and the Justice Dept. to reconcile evidence in support of his words from October 7, 2022, with his contradictory assertions to Congress given that Mr. Weiss’ statements are easily verified.”
However, as Breitbart News reported on the same day, Garland disputed that Weiss had ever requested that a special counsel be designated in the case:
“Given that he has this authority, I’m not sure how anyone could prevent him from filing a lawsuit. Never once was he told no. I’m saying he was given full discretion to decide anything on his own,” he said.
“Only the Attorney General has the power to appoint a special counsel or decline to appoint a special counsel. I never received such a request from Mr. Weiss.”
In addition, Garland said, “I would be in favor of Mr. Weiss clarifying or testifying on these issues when he feels appropriate.”