Senator Chuck Grassley criticized the FBI for not releasing a document that Republicans said contains information that allegedly implicates President Joe Biden in an influence-peddling scheme and said it doesn't matter whether or not those accusations are "accurate."
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, recently attempted to get records from the FBI that he believes could show whether Biden allegedly received bribes from a foreign national in exchange for influencing policy decisions when he served as vice president during the Obama administration. Comer is basing his allegation on information he received from an anonymous whistleblower.
In May, Comer and Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said in a letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland that they received "legally protected and highly credible unclassified" information from the whistleblower.
During an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Grassley spoke about the FBI document that he said he read at the bureau and insisted that the agency should make available to the public.
"We asked for the document a month ago. It's been subpoenaed and he [FBI Director Christopher Wray] ought to respond to a...subpoena," he said. "We're doing the constitutional job of oversight. I have read that document...and as an unclassified document, he admits it exists. And we aren't interested in whether or not the accusations against Vice President Biden are accurate or not. We're responsible for making sure the FBI does its job."
An FBI spokesperson told Newsweek that the bureau doesn't have any comment on specific remarks but confirmed in a statement that Comer and Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the committee's ranking member, were allowed to review the document.
"...Director Wray offered to provide the Committee's Chairman and Ranking Member an opportunity to review information responsive to the subpoena in a secure manner to accommodate the committee, while protecting the confidentiality and safety of sources and important investigative sensitivities," the FBI spokesperson said.
"The FBI has continually demonstrated its commitment to working with the Committee to accommodate its request, from scheduling briefings and calls to now allowing the Chair to review information in person. The FBI remains committed to cooperating with the Committee in good faith."
The White House denied the accusations against Biden, with Ian Sams, the White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, tweeting in May: "Innuendo and insinuation masquerading as investigation."
In another tweet at the time, Sams wrote: "For going on 5 years now, Republicans in Congress have been lobbing unfounded politically-motivated attacks against @POTUS without offering evidence for their claims. Or evidence of decisions influenced by anything other than U.S. interests. They prefer trafficking in innuendo."
When asked about the contents of the document, Grassley said Thursday that he will not "characterize" it but confirmed that Republicans will release it to the public after receiving it from the FBI.
"They've got to produce this document," Grassley said of the FBI, adding that not doing so and not being "forthcoming" with the public would be another example of the agency's "shortcomings and political bias."
"There's no reason for an unclassified document to be held in secret," he added.
Fox News host Bill Hemmer then asked Grassley how damning the document is to the president, to which the senator responded that he doesn't know, even though he read it.
"Let's put it this way. There's accusations in it, but that's not for me to make a judgment about whether these accusations are accurate or not," he added. "It's up to my job to make sure the FBI is doing their job and that's what this is all about. As far as I'm concerned, [the] public's business ought to be public."
In the letter Grassley and Comer sent to Garland last month, they wrote that "based on those disclosures, it has come to our attention that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 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," the letter read.
Both Republicans claimed in the letter that the DOJ and the FBI would have enough information to determine the accuracy and credibility of the document.
Update 6/1/23, 3:25 p.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from an FBI spokesperson.
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Fatma Khaled is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. politics, world ... Read more
