Democrats on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee are challenging GOP claims that President Biden is corrupt based on unverified allegations from an FBI form. The claims revolve around Biden’s son Hunter and his business relationship with Ukrainian energy company Burisma. The release of the FBI form was made by Sen. Chuck Grassley and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer.
The document contains information given by a secret source to an FBI agent, but it doesn’t evaluate that information.
The Republican Party believes this document is important for their investigation into the business affairs of the Biden family. However, Democrats see the decision to release the document as a risky move that could harm the FBI’s ability to work with secret sources. So far, there is no concrete evidence of any wrongdoing.
The FBI previously criticized Chairman Comer and Senator Grassley for making the document public, stating that it puts the safety of secret sources and the integrity of their investigations at risk.
“Contrary to Republican messaging, the form provides no new or additional support for their corruption allegations against the President or Hunter Biden. Instead, its release merely seeks to breathe new life into years-old conspiracy theories, initially peddled by Rudy Giuliani, that have been thoroughly debunked.”
Republicans pushed back on the Democratic memo.
“The Democrats’ latest memo is another piece of garbage that should be thrown in the trash. Senator Grassley acquired the unclassified FD-1023 form through legally protected disclosures by Justice Department whistleblowers,” a GOP Oversight Committee spokesperson said in a statement. “The record is based on a trusted confidential human source’s conversations with a Burisma executive, and it has nothing to do with Rudy Guiliani.”
The tipster, dubbed CHS as short for confidential human source, relayed conversations he had with Mykola Zlochevsky, the CEO of Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Zlochevsky thought that having Hunter Biden on the board could help insulate the company from its problems with being investigated by Ukrainian authorities.
The crux of the unproven bribery allegation has been pushed by allies of former President Trump for years: that then-Vice President Biden’s threat to withhold funding to Ukraine unless Prosecutor Viktor Shokin was removed was intended to benefit Burisma, which was paying his son.
Ukrainian Senate member Andreii Derchach came forward with testimony supporting the allegations and providing evidence and has since been put on a US sanctioned persons list and refused entry into the United States under the Biden administration.
But Democrats cling to an FBI source, from congressional Republicans and from a man who was involved in pushing these theories that severely undercut the story. Most of these sources are second and third party, ie, “I heard, I was told,” instead of relying on primary sources close to the events.
The basis of the bribery allegation was then Vice President Biden’s threat to withhold funding to Ukraine unless Prosecutor Viktor Shokin was removed was intended to benefit Burisma, which was paying his son. Audio recordings of conversations between Biden and then President of Ukraine provided by Derchach have been suppressed and ignored in Congressional proceedings.
The Democratic memo pointed out that “Senator Grassley also tacitly questioned the truthfulness of the allegations in the Form FD-1023 when he admitted he was ‘not interested’ in whether the accusations in the form ‘are accurate or not,’” citing a Fox News interview in June.
Grassley has argued that his interest in the FBI form rests more with whether the FBI and Department of Justice adequately investigated the tip rather than in the bribery allegations themselves.
Grassley rebutted “What did the Justice Department and FBI do with the detailed information in the document? And why have they tried to conceal it from Congress and the American people for so long?”
The memo highlights the investigation conducted by the DOJ and FBI under U.S. Attorney Brady regarding allegations against Mr. Giuliani. It states that the investigation was closed in August 2020 due to insufficient evidence. However, the memo mentions comments from Attorney General Bill Barr suggesting that the investigation was sent to Delaware for further examination. Additionally, the memo mentions that the FBI source could confirm the claims made by Zlochevsky, explaining that it is common for businessmen in post-Soviet countries to brag and make bribe payments to government officials.
Democrats are focusing on a letter from Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian who supported Trump, asking a Republican named Comer to stop investigating the Bidens. Parnas stated that there was no evidence linking the Bidens to illegal activities. The memo also mentions information from the first impeachment that contradicts claims about Biden. Democrats criticize Republicans for sharing information that the FBI wanted to keep private.
Democrats and Republicans are clashing over the release of an FBI form related to the Biden family’s business dealings. Democrats argue that the form includes sensitive information that could endanger sources, while Republicans defend its release. The form is seen as supporting the GOP’s investigation into the Biden family’s financial activities. However, some IRS whistleblowers who examined Hunter Biden’s affairs claim they were unaware of the form. The controversy surrounding the release of this document continues.
Ultimately, what this means for the American people is no one is really interested in whether corruption occurred, only whether or not the FBI crossed its “t’s” and dotted its “i’s” on an official non-investigation.
George Eliason
