Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) bashed the Department of Justice and FBI Tuesday over their failure to answer questions regarding an FBI form long sought by Republicans.
The form in question, which was released publicly last week by Grassley, was an unverified FBI-generated FD-1023 that alleges then-Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden were involved in a $5 million bribery scheme.
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The FBI first denied the existence of the form when first asked about it, then repeatedly stalled when asked for it. Speaking on the Senate floor on Tuesday, Grassley expressed his frustration over the perceived lack of cooperation from the FBI and DOJ over the matter.
“We’re in July 2023 and we’re talking about a June 2020 document. The FBI can easily answer those questions. The fact that they haven’t indicates to me that the Justice Department and FBI haven’t followed normal investigative protocol,” Grassley said.
“Remember this: To date, the Justice Department and FBI have not disputed any of their allegations,” he continued, referring to whistleblower allegations concerning the Biden family. “Further, remember this: That includes information relating to this 1023 that I’ve made public, and some of this information goes back to October of last year. And in that period of time, the Department of Justice and the FBI haven’t disputed any of that information. And a perfect chance for Christopher Wray, Director of the FBI, to do that would have been with that telephone conversation that he had with Chairman Comer and me.”
Grassley, alongside House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY), has led the congressional effort to investigate alleged criminal wrongdoing from the Biden family.
Despite the lack of cooperation from the FBI, Grassley was able to obtain and publicly release the document last week. He acquired the document through legally protected disclosures by DOJ whistleblowers.
“The American people can now read this document for themselves, without the filter of politicians or bureaucrats, thanks to brave and heroic whistleblowers,” Grassley said.
The FBI had handed over a heavily redacted version of the document last month, a move Republicans criticized due to the amount of information that was hidden. The FBI defended the move, claiming it was meant to protect the source.
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Tensions have escalated between Wray and Republicans after the FBI director initially refused to hand over an internal law enforcement document, an FD-1023 form, that Republicans believe exposes a “criminal scheme” tied to Biden and an unnamed “foreign national.”
The FBI initially refused to hand over the document, as they claimed it contains unsubstantiated intelligence. The agency claims that Comer, Grassley, and Republicans needlessly escalated the situation.
