The FBI has reportedly ignored a congressional subpoena for a document identified by a whistleblower that is said to contain allegations of a criminal bribery scheme between a foreign national and President Joe Biden, from his time as vice president under the Obama administration.
The bureau has failed to produce the document in time for the deadline on the subpoena — which demanded that FBI Director Christopher Wray hand over all FD-1023 documents that contain the word “Biden,” and all accompanying attachments and documents.
The subpoena came after a whistleblower contacted Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA) office — making legally protected disclosures about an alleged arrangement involving money being exchanged between then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national for policy decisions.
🚨🚨🚨@RepJamesComer & @ChuckGrassley reveal the existence of an FBI record alleging then-VP Biden engaged in a bribery scheme with a foreign national.
According to a whistleblower, this record details an alleged arrangement involving an exchange of money for policy decisions.… pic.twitter.com/6yLwPLi8Hw
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) May 3, 2023
After the deadline passed, Grassley and House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) released a joint statement vowing to “follow up” with the FBI — stating that they expect the bureau to comply with the subpoena.
“It’s clear from the FBI’s response that the unclassified record the Oversight Committee subpoenaed exists, but they are refusing to provide it to the Committee,” Comer stated. “We’ve asked the FBI to not only provide this record, but to also inform us what it did to investigate these allegations. The FBI has failed to do both.”
🚨🚨
The FBI failed to produce the subpoenaed FBI generated FD-1023 record that allegedly details a bribery scheme involving then-VP Biden and a foreign national.
It’s clear from the FBI’s response the unclassified record exists.
More from @RepJamesComer & @ChuckGrassley:…
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) May 10, 2023
The Oversight Committee chairman was referring to a six-page response letter from the Acting Assistant Director for Congressional Affairs, Christopher Dunham. The letter does not explicitly confirm that the subpoenaed document exists, though it does provide “background” claiming that “confidentiality interests” are important — while expressing a commitment to continue to work with lawmakers to resolve the issue.
“It is critical to the integrity of the entire criminal justice process and to the fulfillment of our law enforcement duties that FBI avoid revealing information — including unverified or incomplete information — that could harm investigations, prejudice prosecutions or judicial proceedings, unfairly violate privacy or reputational interests, or create misimpressions in the public,” Dunham wrote, according to Punchbowl News.
Grassley argued that the FBI’s actions indicate that the Biden bribery scheme document “is real.”
“While the FBI has failed to produce the specific document by the subpoena deadline, their offer to provide an accommodation process in response to our legitimate request indicates the document is real,” he said. “So the question remains, what did the FBI do to investigate very serious allegations from an apparent trusted FBI source implicating then-Vice President Biden? Today’s letter from the FBI raises additional questions, including whether the FBI has an open investigation based on these allegations. The American people pay the FBI’s salaries, and they’re entitled to a fulsome response.”
Comer appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity” to discuss the matter on Wednesday evening.
