In his first television interview since Hunter Biden reached a plea deal last week with federal prosecutors, an IRS whistleblower said David Weiss, the U.S. attorney leading the investigation into President Joe Biden’s son, told him last year he did not have the final say in bringing charges.

The accusation from Gary Shapley, a supervisory special agent who worked on the Hunter Biden case, contradicts public statements by Weiss and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Shapley also told CBS News he was blocked from pursuing leads into Joe Biden.

Last week, Hunter Biden and the Justice Department reached a deal in which the president’s son would plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and agree to terms allowing him to avoid prosecution on a gun charge. A judge must approve the plea deal, in which Hunter Biden is expected to avoid prison.

After congressional Republicans accused the Justice Department of being politically biased and giving Hunter Biden a “sweetheart deal,” Garland held a news conference in which he insisted he granted Weiss, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, “complete authority to make all decisions on his own.”

And in a May 25 letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Weiss wrote he had “been granted ultimate authority over this matter, including responsibility for deciding where, when, and whether to file charges.”

But Shapley told CBS News that Weiss told him and others in a Oct. 7, 2022, meeting at the U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware that that he was not the deciding official on whether charges would be filed.

“It was just shocking to me,” Shapley told CBS News.

“I documented exactly what happened, and that doesn't seem to match what the attorney general or the U.S. attorney are saying today,” he added.

In his May 26 testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, Shapley said the meeting also included senior-level managers from the IRS’ Criminal Investigation unit, FBI and Delaware U.S. attorney’s office.

Shapley, a 14-year IRS veteran who still works for the agency, has said the investigation was conducted “outside the norm” from what he’s seen in the past and that he uncovered conduct that warranted more serious charges. 

“There were personal expenses that were taken as business expenses, prostitutes, sex club memberships, hotel rooms for purported drug dealers,” Shapley said.

Hunter Biden’s attorney, Christopher Clark, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Shapley also alleges he was directed to avoid to investigate leads involving Joe Biden.

“There are certain investigative steps that we weren't allowed to take that could have led us to President Biden,” he said.

Trump was still the president at the time, and his attorney general, William Barr, might have had rules in place that limited what Shapley could pursue.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware declined to comment on Shapley’s interview Wednesday. The main Justice Department forwarded a separate Spectrum News inquiry to Weiss’ office.

The White House has repeatedly insisted Biden does not get involved in Justice Department investigations. 

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Fox News on Tuesday — before the CBS interview aired but days after House Republicans released Shapley’s testimony — that “if it comes true what the IRS whistleblower’s saying, we're going to start impeachment inquiries on the attorney general.”