U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley publicly released an internal FBI document Thursday containing unconfirmed allegations that President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden participated in an alleged bribery scheme — a disclosure the FBI said “unnecessarily risks the safety of a confidential source.”
The redacted document outlines a conversation the FBI had with a confidential source who alleged the CEO of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, paid a $10 million bribe to the Bidens.
It is at the center of the U.S. House Oversight Committee’s investigation, led by Republican Chair Jim Comer of Kentucky into Biden’s and his family’s business dealings.
“For the better part of a year, I’ve been pushing the Justice Department and FBI to provide details on its handling of very significant allegations from a trusted FBI informant implicating then-Vice President Biden in a criminal bribery scheme,” Grassley said in a statement. “While the FBI sought to obfuscate and redact, the American people can now read this document for themselves, without the filter of politicians or bureaucrats, thanks to brave and heroic whistleblowers.”
Grassley accused the FBI and the Justice Department of trying to conceal the information from Congress and the American people.
In response, the FBI said in a statement that “at a minimum” the disclosure risks the confidential source’s safety.
“Throughout the FBI’s engagements with Congress, we have been guided by our obligation to protect the physical safety of confidential human sources and the integrity of sensitive investigations,” the statement said. “We have repeatedly explained to Congress, in correspondence and in briefings, how critical it is to keep this source information confidential. In the face of these significant concerns, the FBI negotiated a resolution with Chairman Comer to provide the information requested in a manner that protects the safety of confidential sources and integrity of investigations. The safeguards the FBI placed on the production of this information are necessary to protect the safety of confidential sources and the integrity of sensitive investigations.”
Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.
