Biden investigation: GOP subpoenas FBI Director Wray for details on alleged ‘criminal scheme’
Jerry Dunleavy
Video Embed
Rep. James Comer (R-KY) issued a subpoena to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday ordering him to hand over a bureau form that allegedly describes a “criminal scheme” involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and an unnamed “foreign national.”
Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, described the reasoning behind the subpoena in a letter sent to Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland. The letter was authored jointly with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). Comer and Grassley, who are both leading investigations into Hunter Biden and the Biden family generally, did not provide many specifics on the wrongdoing being alleged.
GRASSLEY AND JOHNSON DEMAND BLINKEN HAND OVER HUNTER BIDEN RECORDS AFTER “FALSE TESTIMONY”
“We have received legally protected and highly credible unclassified whistleblower disclosures,” the congressman and senator told Wray and Garland. “Based on those disclosures, it has come to our attention that the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation 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. It has been alleged that the document includes a precise description of how the alleged criminal scheme was employed as well as its purpose.”
An FD-1023 form is a document the FBI uses to record interviews with witnesses and sources.
Comer’s subpoena to Wray specifically asked the FBI director to hand over “all FD-1023 forms, including within any open, closed, or restricted case files, created or modified in June 2020, containing the term ‘Biden,’ including all accompanying attachments and documents to those FD-1023 forms.”
An FBI spokesperson told the Washington Examiner that it received the subpoena and the letter, but “we don’t have any additional comment.”
“The information provided by a whistleblower raises concerns that then-Vice President Biden allegedly engaged in a bribery scheme with a foreign national,” Comer said Wednesday. “The American people need to know if President Biden sold out the United States of America to make money for himself. Senator Grassley and I will seek the truth to ensure accountability for the American people.”
Garland said Tuesday that “I stand by my testimony” about U.S. Attorney David Weiss’s independence to criminally investigate Hunter Biden free from political interference, despite IRS whistleblower claims contradicting his sworn testimony.
In early February 2021, President Biden asked nearly all Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys for their resignations, with Weiss as an exception, who was asked to stay on as he investigates the president’s son. Garland has repeatedly vowed to ensure that Weiss would be insulated from any political pressure, and he said Tuesday that was still true.
Grassley had sent an October letter to Wray, Garland, and Weiss arguing that the FBI is in possession of “significant, impactful, and voluminous evidence” of “potential criminal conduct” by Hunter Biden related to his overseas business dealings with China and Ukraine.
The whistleblower allegations released late last year related to Hunter Biden, as well as James Biden, the president’s brother, regarding the duo’s dealings with the Chinese government-linked energy conglomerate CEFC China Energy. They also related to the younger Biden’s work for Ukrainian gas giant Burisma Holdings. Grassley said his staff “reviewed the unclassified records” supporting the whistleblower claims.
“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 Wednesday. “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 revealed new financial details on the Biden family in March after he obtained them through a subpoena of Hunter Biden associate Rob Walker’s financial records at Bank of America. The House chairman revealed that “from 2015 through 2017, Biden family members and their companies received over $1.3 million in payments” from accounts tied to Walker.
President Biden denied those details, and Comer demanded that the White House issue a correction on Joe Biden’s “dishonest” denial.
Last year, on the China front, Grassley cited Tony Bobulinski, a Navy veteran and former business associate of Hunter Biden, who went to the FBI in October 2020 to detail the Biden family’s efforts to do business in China.
“The information provided by Mr. Bobulinski formed a sufficient basis to open a full field investigation on pay-to-play grounds; however, it is unclear whether the FBI did so and whether the information is part of the ongoing criminal investigation by U.S. Attorney Weiss,” Grassley said in October.
CEFC is a now-defunct multibillion-dollar Chinese company founded by Ye Jianming, a business tycoon who has since disappeared in China but with whom Hunter and James Biden had attempted to work out numerous deals and resulting in the duo receiving millions of dollars.
“The evidence within the FBI’s possession that I am referencing is included, in part, in a summary of Tony Bobulinski’s October 23, 2020, interview with FBI agents,” Grassley said last year. “In that interview, Mr. Bobulinski stated that the arrangement Hunter Biden and James Biden created with foreign nationals connected to the communist Chinese government included assisting them with potential business deals and investments while Joe Biden was Vice President.”
Republicans have scrutinized Hunter Biden’s partnership with Ye and his top lieutenant, Patrick Ho, who was sentenced to three years in prison in March 2019 for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The case against Ho revealed that some evidence had been obtained through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
Hunter Biden struck a $1 million legal retainer agreement with Ho following his arrest. The president’s son referred to Ho as the “f***ing spy chief of China” in a recording dated May 11, 2018.
In regards to Ukraine, Grassley said last year that he had been provided potential evidence of criminality tied to Hunter Biden’s work for Burisma, which reportedly paid Hunter $50,000 a month to serve on its board for a period when his father was vice president.
Ukrainian oligarch and Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky is widely seen as corrupt and had $23 million frozen by British authorities in the time between the hiring of Hunter and his business associate Devon Archer.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“The FBI has within its possession a series of documents relating to information on Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of Burisma, and his business and financial associations with Hunter Biden,” Grassley wrote in his October letter. “The documents in the FBI’s possession include specific details with respect to conversations by non-government individuals relevant to potential criminal conduct by Hunter Biden.”
In his 2021 memoir, Beautiful Things, Hunter Biden defended Zlochevsky and called the Burisma work “inspiring” and “consequential” while also admitting that “the pay was good” and that “there’s no question my last name was a coveted credential.”
iFrame Object iFrame Object