WASHINGTON – David Weiss, the special counsel investigating Hunter Biden, will sit for a closed-door transcribed interview with the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee next month, three sources familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News on Thursday.
He will appear before the panel for a voluntary interview on November 7, the sources said.
Weiss offered to meet with the committee to clarify discrepancies between his public statements regarding the investigation into the president’s son and the public testimony of two IRS whistleblowers who claimed that Weiss told investigators that he did not have ultimate authority to bring charges in the case.
Weiss’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday night.
Punchbowl News first reported Weiss’ upcoming appearance.
Having a special counsel appear before a congressional committee during a prosecution is extremely rare, and Weiss likely won’t be able to say much about the investigation because it’s ongoing.
The Justice Department has already signaled to the House Judiciary Committee that this will be Weiss’ only appearance before the case ends.
In a letter to the committee last month, Carlos Felipe Uriarte, the assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, said Weiss “remains available for a single appearance” to discuss the investigation, while adding that congressional testimony could strain the investigation.
“It is likely that Mr. Weiss, like previous special counsels, will be asked for public testimony at the end of his investigation,” Uriarte said. “Even a single appearance before that time, while the matter is ongoing, will affect the means of investigation given the time required to appear before Congress.”
The Judiciary Committee is chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who has been highly critical of the way Weiss handled his years-long investigation into President Joe Biden’s son.
Jordan, who is also seeking the House speaker’s gavel, is one of the Republicans leading the impeachment inquiry into the president, looking into whether he may have benefited from his son’s foreign businesses.
The White House has repeatedly rejected House Republicans’ claim that Biden abused the power of his office to enrich his family.
Weiss is a Trump appointee who was retained as U.S. attorney for Delaware by Attorney General Merrick Garland because of the sensitive nature of an investigation into a president’s family member by the Justice Department, which is part of the executive branch.
In July, Weiss reached a plea deal with Hunter Biden that would have resolved tax and gun charges against him with a sentence of probation, a deal that several Republicans at the time criticized as a “sweetheart deal.”
The deal fell apart after a federal judge questioned some of its terms. Garland named Weiss special counsel in August, giving him broader powers, as negotiations over the tax and gun charges collapsed.
Weiss accused Hunter Biden felony charges in Delaware last month, and has indicated in court filings that he plans to file tax charges against him in a different jurisdiction. Biden has pleaded not guilty.
Ryan Nobles, Rebecca Kaplan and Gary Grumbach reported from Washington, Dareh Gregorian reported from New York.