An FBI informant claims a foreign national has more than a dozen audio recordings of conversations with President Joe Biden and his son Hunter stemming from an alleged $5 million bribery scheme involving Ukraine, a U.S. senator revealed on Monday.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said an FD-1023 file in the FBI’s possession, which has been shown to members of the House Oversight Committee with redactions, makes reference to these recordings and should be revealed to the public. Grassley has been working with Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY), who has used subpoena power to pry more information from the FBI about the allegations.
“The 1023 produced to that House committee redacted reference that the foreign national who allegedly bribed Joe and Hunter Biden allegedly has audio recordings of his conversation with them. Seventeen such recordings,” Grassley said in a speech on the Senate floor, noting he has seen the document with fewer redactions than what oversight panel members were given.
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Senator Chuck Grassley Announces On The Senate Floor That The Foreign National Who Allegedly Bribed Joe And Hunter Biden Allegedly Has Audio Recordings Of His Conversations With Them
"17 such recordings."
"According to the 1023, the foreign national possesses 15 audio… pic.twitter.com/JIoMbTyXHA
— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) June 12, 2023
“According to the 1023, the foreign national possesses 15 audio recordings of phone calls between him and Hunter Biden,” Grassley said. “According to the 1023, the foreign national possesses two audio recordings of phone calls between him and then-vice president Joe Biden. These recordings were allegedly kept as a sort-of insurance policy for the foreign national in case he got into a tight spot.”
Grassley added: “The 1023 also indicates that then-Vice President Joe Biden may have been involved in Burisma employing Hunter Biden.”
The House Oversight Committee gained access to the FD-1023 file after Comer threatened to hold a vote to hold Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena seeking the document that talks about an alleged $5 million bribery scheme between Biden at a time when he was vice president and a foreign national. After viewing the document, GOP members of the House Oversight Committee revealed the matter is linked to Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings, which employed Biden’s son, Hunter, on its board for several years.
The identity of the informant has not been publicly disclosed, but Comer and Grassley have characterized him as a trusted FBI source. The FBI has resisted producing the document to Congress, warning that it contains unverified information and disclosing it could endanger sources and investigations.
While the GOP-led oversight panel has said its investigation into the informant’s claims may inform legislative reforms to strengthen disclosure requirements, Democrats and the White House have dismissed the inquiry as being politically motivated. When asked last week by a reporter to respond to corruption allegations raised by Republicans, Biden called the claims “a bunch of malarkey.”
Comer told Fox News on Sunday that when he viewed the file alongside Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top Democrat on the panel, he “realized that there were two footnotes in there that referenced other 1023s.” Comer also told Newsmax the footnotes date back to 2017. A congressional source told The Daily Wire on Monday that the oversight panel is working with the FBI to schedule a time this week to view the other FD-1023 records.
Piggybacking off Comer saying the information provided by the informant is “currently being used in an ongoing investigation,” Grassley questioned what U.S. Attorney David Weiss in Delaware, who is investigating Hunter Biden’s financial affairs, may be doing about the recordings mentioned in the FBI record containing the informant’s information.
Grassley said the document is unclassified and therefore should be eligible for public release without “unnecessary” redactions. Like other Republicans, Grassley also noted the timing of former President Donald Trump being indicted in a federal inquiry into his handling of classified information while suggesting that federal investigators appear to have less zeal when it comes to looking into corruption allegations levied against the Biden family.
“Getting a full and complete 1023 is critical for the American people to know and understand the true nature of the document and to hold the Justice Department and the FBI accountable,” Grassley said.