Republican senators appear to have been blocked by the Department of Justice from getting answers about the Hunter Biden investigation from the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware.
After repeatedly being stonewalled by DOJ headquarters in Washington D.C., Sens. Chuck Grassley (IA) and Ron Johnson (WI) sent a May letter to U.S. attorney David Weiss, who is handling the Biden criminal case.
The senators asked about possible conflicts of interest and the existence of recusals within the Justice Department, raised concerns about the president’s son’s claims of judicial influence in Delaware, pressed the federal prosecutor on whether he was being properly supported by Main Justice, and inquired about what steps he had taken during his investigation.
DOJ headquarters was clearly alerted to the letter, because it was it, not Weiss, that responded to Grassley and Johnson, denying their requests for information.
“This responds to your letter to the Department of Justice, dated May 9, 2022, regarding the employment of certain Department employees and regarding certain actions that may or may not have been taken by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware,” acting Assistant Attorney General Peter Hyun said in a letter last week to Grassley and Johnson, with the official saying DOJ had responded in February 2021, March 2021, July 2021, and February 2022 to similar letters.
Hyun told the senators: “Department attorneys receive ethics and professional responsibility training as appropriate, sign a pledge to maintain public trust in government, and are subject to the Department’s scrupulous ethics and recusal protocols” and that “it will not be able to provide you with any further information regarding Department officials’ employment or specific recusal decisions.”
Weiss was appointed by then-President Donald Trump in 2018. In February 2021, President Joe Biden asked all Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys appointed by Trump for their resignations, Weiss being the exception. John Durham was asked to step down as the U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut but was kept on as special counsel for his criminal review of the Trump-Russia investigation.
