Joe Biden Accused by Whistleblower in Bribery Scheme With Foreign National

A pair of top Republicans in Congress issued a subpoena for records they say might detail a criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national—a claim the White House characterized as "unfounded" and motivated by political bias.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley and Kentucky Representative James Comer on Wednesday issued a subpoena with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seeking an unclassified record called an FD-1023 form that they say allegedly details an arrangement involving an exchange of money for policy decisions.

"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 in a statement announcing the subpoena. "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."

At this point, is unclear exactly what is in the form, what the allegations against Biden are, or whether there is any weight to them.

The form is little more than a tip sheet, a document the FBI uses to record interviews with sources who might have witnessed a potential crime. And currently, not even the people seeking it know exactly what they'll find.

While Grassley claims the document includes "very serious and detailed allegations implicating the current President of the United States," he also added in a tweet they don't actually know what, if anything, the FBI had done to verify the claims in the document.

However, he expressed concern over so-called "political bias" impacting previous investigations related to the Biden family's foreign business arrangements and bank records, citing recent revelations that several members of the Biden family and their companies had received more than $1 million from a Chinese company through a third party.

Notably, that alleged cover-up took place during the Trump administration, while the White House previously characterized the Republican narrative as "baseless."

Under questioning by Senate Republicans last summer against claims that biased FBI agents shielded Biden's son, Hunter, from criminal investigations related to his business dealings, FBI Director Christopher Wray characterized the allegations as "deeply troubling" during a hearing on Capitol Hill.

Wray later said the incident was "not representative of the FBI," which he described as an office full of "patriots working their tails off with tremendous integrity and objectivity."

Grassley, who initially led the allegations against Wray's FBI, called Wednesday's subpoena an effort to introduce more oversight over the agency by Congress.

"The FBI's recent history of botching politically charged investigations demands close congressional oversight," Grassley said.

The White House blasted the investigation in an emailed statement to Newsweek, calling the subpoena little more than an effort to malign the administration with allegations they say are unsupported by fact.

"For going on five years now, Republicans in Congress have been lobbing unfounded, unproven, politically-motivated attacks against the President and his family without offering evidence for their claims or evidence of decisions influenced by anything other than U.S. interests," Ian Sams, a White House spokesman, told Newsweek in the statement. "That's because they prefer floating anonymous innuendo, amplified by the megaphone of their allies in rightwing media, to get attention and try to distract and deflect from their own unpopular ideas and lack of solutions to the issues the American people actually care about.

"When it comes to President Biden's personal finances, anybody can take a look. He has offered an unprecedented level of transparency, releasing a total of 25 years of tax returns to the American public."

Newsweek reached out to Grassley's and Comer's offices via email for comment.