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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 Nov. 7, the sources said.
Weiss offered to meet with the committee to clear up 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 since it’s ongoing.
The Justice Department has already signaled to the House Judiciary Committee that this will be Weiss’ only appearance before the case wraps up.
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 probe, while adding that congressional testimony could put a strain on the investigation.
“There is a likelihood that Mr. Weiss, like previous special counsels, will be asked for public testimony at the conclusion of his investigation,” Uriarte said. “Even a single appearance before that time, while the matter is ongoing, will impact the investigation’s resources given the time necessary for an appearance before Congress.”
The Judiciary Committee is chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who’s been highly critical of the way Weiss has handled his yearslong 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, investigating whether he might have profited off his son’s foreign ventures.
The White House has repeatedly rejected the assertion by House Republicans that Biden abused the power of his office to enrich his family.
Weiss is a Trump appointee who was kept on 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 agreement with Hunter Biden that would have resolved tax and gun charges against him with a sentence of probation, an agreement several Republicans at the time blasted as a “sweetheart deal.”
The agreement 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 indicted Hunter Biden on felony gun charges in Delaware last month, and indicated in court filings that he’s planning on bringing 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.
