The FBI and Justice Department are under fire after a whistleblower’s allegations that they are in possession of a document that describes a criminal scheme involving then–Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions surfaced.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, and Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, said the whistleblower claims the document “includes a precise description of how the alleged criminal scheme was employed as well as its purpose.”
Comer and Grassley said the document, an FBI–generated FD–1023 form, allegedly details an arrangement involving an exchange of money for policy decisions. In response, Comer issued a subpoena.
“We believe the FBI possesses an unclassified internal document that includes very serious and detailed allegations implicating the current President of the United States,” Grassley said. “What we don’t know is what, if anything, the FBI has done to verify these claims or investigate further. The FBI’s recent history of botching politically charged investigations demands close congressional oversight.”
Comer added that the information “raises concerns that then–Vice President Biden allegedly engaged in a bribery scheme with a foreign national.” “The American people need to know if President Biden sold out the United States of America to make money for himself,” Comer said. “Senator Grassley and I will seek the truth to ensure accountability for the American people.”
Grassley and Comer have notified FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland of the “legally protected and highly credible unclassified whistleblower disclosures.”
“Based on those disclosures, it has come to our attention that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) possess an unclassified FD–1023 form that describes an alleged criminal scheme involving then–Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions,” they wrote.
The two noted that the whistleblower alleged that the document “includes a precise description of how the alleged criminal scheme was employed as well as its purpose.”
“It would appear that the DOJ and the FBI have enough information to determine the truth and accuracy of the information contained within it,” Comer and Grassley said. “However, it remains unclear what steps, if any, were taken to investigate the matter.”
The two men added that “the significant public interest in assessing the FBI’s response to this information” made congressional oversight “necessary.”
“The DOJ and the FBI appear to have valuable, verifiable information that you have failed to disclose to the American people,” Comer and Grassley wrote.
The FBI has confirmed it received the letter, but declined to comment further.
The White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, Ian Sams, said Republicans are “lobbing unfounded, unproven, politically–motivated attacks against the President and his family without offering evidence for their claims or evidence of decisions influenced by anything other than U.S. interests.”
“That’s because they prefer floating anonymous innuendo, amplified by the megaphone of their allies in rightwing media, to get attention and try to distract and deflect from their own unpopular ideas and lack of solutions to the issues the American people actually care about,” Sams said.
The Biden family has been under investigation since 2018, with Hunter Biden being the main focus. The federal investigation into his “tax affairs” began amid the discovery of suspicious activity reports (SARs) regarding funds from “China and other foreign nations.”
The White House has maintained that the president never spoke to his son about his business dealings, and has continued to say that the president was never involved with them. Officials also say the president has never discussed investigations into members of his family with the Justice Department. President Biden has offered an unprecedented amount of transparency, releasing 25 years of tax returns to the American public.
