After testimony by a senior FBI agent assigned to the Hunter Biden investigation cast doubt on IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley's allegations that the U.S. attorney leading the probe, David Weiss, said he lacked the authority to bring charges in the case, CBS News obtained what Shapley said were his contemporaneous, handwritten notes from the October 2022 meeting.
"Weiss stated — He is not the deciding person," Shapley's note reads.
Shapley also said that in that meeting, Weiss stated that he had been denied special counsel status.
In June, Attorney General Merrick Garland had said that Weiss would be able "to make a decision to prosecute any way in which he wanted to and in any district in which he wanted to."
In letters to Congress, Weiss insisted he had the "ultimate authority." In August, Garland said Weiss had informed him that his investigation had reached a stage where he believed his work should continue as special counsel, and he then asked for the designation. Garland said he concluded it was "in the public interest" to appoint Weiss special counsel, giving him expanded powers to continue the probe, in light of the "extraordinary circumstances" of the case.
The transcript of the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee's deposition on Sept. 7 with the FBI special agent, first reported by the Washington Post, and independently reviewed by CBS News, shows Thomas J. Sobocinski told the committee that he did not remember Weiss saying that...
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