Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) left a House Judiciary Committee hearing with special counsel David Weiss and claimed that no one should believe any "misleading reports" from his Republican colleagues about what unfolded.
Weiss was being questioned behind closed doors about his ongoing investigation into President Joe Biden's son Hunter, whom Republicans have targeted since the 2020 election.
Goldman told Fox's Chad Pergram reported Goldman's details, which detailed Weiss only being willing to give information about his authority over the investigation and not the details about the investigation itself.
"He has not and will not discuss any aspects of the investigation. You will hear very misleading reports from the Republicans based on their questioning, which either just fundamentally doesn't understand how the department works or worse," Pergram wrote of Goldman's comments.
"Mr. Weiss made it abundantly clear that whatever authority he needed as this case progressed to charge whatever charges he thought appropriate, he had that authority if he needed it and he followed the protocols," Pergram explained.
"What he very clearly said, which was obvious in his letters, is that if he ever needed any additional authority than what he had as the US Attorney in Delaware, he was assured from the Department of Justice that he would have that authority," Goldman said, as Punchbowl News reporter Max Cohen revealed.
Weiss said that it was from his investigation that he concluded he needed the authority to be a special counsel. It was a sentiment that Republican Senators echoed. Attorney General Merrick Garland granted that request. Republicans then decided they opposed Weiss being given special counsel status because he was not prosecuting Biden for severe enough crimes, as the New York Times reported in August.
Meanwhile, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) attacked the hearing.
"This entire interview process is stupid. I don't know what we're doing here. We're not gonna learn anything new," Lieu said, according to Punchbowl's Cohen.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) told Cohen that President Joe Biden's name didn't come up once during the transcribed interview with Weiss.
Republican Judiciary Committee spokesperson Russell Dye called Nadler's claim "totally false."
Firebrand Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) claimed Weiss was "evasive" during the interview and refused to answer many questions from the GOP. Weiss told members that he wouldn't discuss any ongoing investigation, which is a policy of law enforcement, particularly the Justice Department.
“All that happened was that [Weiss] repeated multiple times that he made all charging decisions on his own and that no one told him what to do," Nadler told Cohen and other reporters.
