WASHINGTON — A federal prosecutor will participate in a closed-door interview with House investigators Tuesday as part of the GOP’s impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, three sources familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News.
The voluntary transcribed interview, which was first reported by Politico, comes the same day that the president’s son is set to be arraigned on felony federal gun charges in Delaware in a case brought by now-special counsel David Weiss.
U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves, who will be interviewed by investigators with the House Judiciary Committee, has been accused by an IRS whistleblower of refusing to work with Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware who had been investigating tax charges against Hunter Biden.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The House panel began seeking Graves’ testimony after accusations from Gary Shapley, an agent in the IRS’ Criminal Investigation division who said that Graves refused to bring a case against Hunter Biden in his jurisdiction, and later refused to team with Weiss, the Trump-appointed prosecutor who’d been investigating tax charges against the president’s son since 2018.
Shapley said that Weiss “shocked us with the earth-shattering news that the Biden-appointed D.C. U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves would not allow him to charge in his district.”
As a result, Shapley said, serious tax charges that could have been brought against Hunter Biden in Washington were not.
“The process meant no charges would ever be brought in the District of Columbia, where the statute of limitations on the 2014 and ’15 charges would eventually expire,” Shapley told the House Ways and Means Committee in May.
House Republicans argue the testimony shows that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland was not being truthful when he said Weiss was empowered to bring a case against Hunter Biden in any jurisdiction, and have suggested that there might have been meddling by the White House.
Garland has insisted repeatedly — and did so again under oath last month — that Weiss could have prosecuted Hunter Biden anywhere, and has denied having any contact with the White House. He also said he named Weiss special counsel after Weiss asked him to do so.
House Republicans launched their impeachment inquiry in September and held their first public hearing in the probe last week. The White House on numerous occasions has rejected the House GOP’s assertion that Biden abused the power of his office to enrich his family — the main focus of the Republican inquiry.
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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote a letter to the Justice Department last month seeking to interview Weiss, Graves and U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada of Los Angeles, who also supposedly snubbed Weiss.
The Justice Department said it would make all three available.
Weiss requested and was granted special counsel status from Garland in August, after a plea deal that would have potentially brought an end to his years long investigation of Hunter Biden fell apart amid scrutiny by a federal judge and complaints from Republicans that it was a “sweetheart deal.”
Under the terms of the now-scuttled agreement, prosecutors would have recommended a sentence of six months probation in return for a guilty plea to two misdemeanor tax charges. A felony gun charge would have been dropped after two years if Hunter Biden abided by the terms of a separate agreement.
Weiss filed additional gun charges against Hunter Biden last month tied to the same 2018 transaction, where he allegedly falsely attested that he was not using drugs when he purchased a gun.
Weiss has also indicated in court filings that he might bring new tax charges against Hunter Biden in a different jurisdiction in the coming weeks.
Rebecca Kaplan reported from Washington, Dareh Gregorian reported from New York.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
