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.

Instead, according to a transcript of Weiss’s congressional testimony reviewed by the Washington Examiner, DOJ officials directed Weiss to follow a “typical process” that lasted weeks, and Weiss never ended up acting on his request until the following year. …

“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.'”

[It’s not that it was an outright denial, but that it disproves claims from both Weiss and Merrick Garland that Weiss had plenary authority to make those decisions on his own. This shows clearly that Weiss never had that authority prior to Garland appointing him to the special-counsel status. The DoJ and Garland have consistently lied about that point, and it once again raises questions about Weiss’ later appointment as special counsel rather than bringing someone independent to fill that role — as the statute requires. — Ed]