Grassley, Graham demand FBI turn over key document linked to Biden allegations
Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have asked the FBI to turn over an unredacted version of the document containing allegations that President Biden was involved in a criminal bribery scheme with a foreign national that involved influence over U.S. policy decisions.
Grassley and Graham are also demanding to know whether the FBI has investigated allegations in the document, and whether it is within the scope of U.S. Attorney David Weiss’ investigation into Hunter Biden and his tax affairs.
The document in question is the FBI-generated FD-1023 form. The form, dated June 30, 2020, reflects the FBI’s interview with a ‘highly credible’ confidential source who detailed multiple meetings and conversations he or she had with a top executive of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings over the course of several years, starting in 2015.
Fox News Digital has not seen the form, which is redacted, but it was described by several sources who are aware of its contents.
Graham, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Grassley, who first was approached by a whistleblower notifying him of the document in question, wrote to the FBI on Wednesday.
‘The FBI’s continued efforts to hide relevant facts from Congress and the American people, as well as its failure to describe any investigative steps taken, will not repair its tarnished reputation,’ Graham and Grassley wrote. ‘It will do the exact opposite.’
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed the document, but the FBI did not comply. Comer threatened to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress.
Instead, the FBI brought the document to Capitol Hill for lawmakers on that committee to review in a secure facility.
‘The allegations contained in the FD-1023 raise serious concerns,’ the senators wrote, noting that the FBI’s ‘conduct to this point has not allowed’ lawmakers to conduct legitimate oversight.
‘In light of the continued failure to transparently address the unclassified FD-1023, we are requesting that the FBI immediately produce an unredacted version directly to the Senate Judiciary Committee and describe, in detail, the steps it has taken to investigate all allegations in the document including whether it is within the scope of U.S. Attorney David Weiss’s review,’ they wrote.
The FBI did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, but has previously told Fox News Digital that it has not physically turned over the document to Congress in an effort to protect the bureau’s long-standing sources and methods.
Sources told Fox News Digital that the confidential human source told the FBI that the Burisma executive was speaking with the confidential source to ‘get advice on the best way to go forward’ in 2015 and 2016 to gain U.S. oil rights and get involved with a U.S. oil company.
According to the FD-1023 form, the confidential human source said the Burisma executive discussed Hunter Biden’s role on the board. The confidential human source questioned why the Burisma executive needed his or her advice in acquiring access to U.S. oil if he had Hunter Biden on the board. The Burisma executive answered by referring to Hunter Biden as ‘dumb.’
The Burisma executive explained to the confidential source that Burisma had to ‘pay the Bidens’ because Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin was investigating Burisma, and explained how difficult it would be to enter the U.S. market in the midst of that investigation.
The confidential source suggested to the Burisma executive that he ‘pay the Bidens $50,000 each,’ to which the Burisma executive replied, it is ‘not $50,000,’ it is ‘$5 million.’
‘$5 million for one Biden, $5 million for the other Biden,’ the Burisma executive told the confidential human source, according to a source familiar with the document.
A source familiar said according to the document, the $5 million payments appeared to reference a kind of ‘retainer’ Burisma intended to pay the Bidens to deal with a number of issues, including the investigation led by Shokin. Another source referred to the arrangement as a ‘pay-to-play’ scheme.
Sources familiar told Fox News Digital that the confidential human source believes that the $5 million payment to Joe Biden and the $5 million payment to Hunter Biden occurred, based on his or her conversations with the Burisma executive.
The confidential source said the Burisma executive told him he ‘paid’ the Bidens in such a manner ‘through so many different bank accounts’ that investigators would not be able to ‘unravel this for at least 10 years.’
The document then makes reference to ‘the Big Guy,’ which many believe is a reference to Joe Biden.
Biden has acknowledged that when he was vice president, he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire Shokin. At the time, Shokin was investigating Burisma Holdings, and at the time, Hunter Biden had a highly lucrative role on the board receiving thousands of dollars per month. The then-vice president threatened to withhold $1 billion of critical U.S. aid if Shokin was not fired.
Last week, Grassley said that the Burisma executive who allegedly paid Joe Biden and Hunter Biden kept 17 audio recordings of his conversations with them as an ‘insurance policy.’
Grassley said the FD-1023 has a redacted reference that the Burisma executive possesses 15 audio recordings of phone calls between himself and Hunter Biden.
According to Grassley, the FD-1023 also states that the executive possesses two audio recordings of phone calls between himself and then-Vice President Biden.
The White House has maintained that President Biden has never been involved in his son’s business dealings and has never discussed them with him. And it has noted that removing Shokin was administration policy at the time.
Hunter Biden this week agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of willful failure to pay federal income tax, and also agreed to enter into a pretrial diversion agreement regarding a separate charge of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
The charges stem from Weiss’ years-long investigation, which he said Tuesday is ‘ongoing.’
Hunter Biden’s first court appearance is scheduled for July 26.
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