The FBI has been sitting on a report detailing a scheme involving then-Vice President Joseph R. Biden to accept money in exchange for policy decisions on behalf of a “foreign national,” two senior Republicans said Wednesday.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, and Rep. James Comer, Kentucky Republican, said their information was “highly credible” and came from whistleblowers who pointed to a confidential human source report that the FBI has had for several years.
They did not say when the alleged dealing occurred nor what country was involved.
They did say the information that the FBI obtained was detailed enough to have been verified.
“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 lawmakers wrote.
“However, it remains unclear what steps, if any, were taken to investigate the matter,” the lawmakers said.
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The FBI uses form 1023 to collect information from a human source.
Mr. Comer, acting as chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, issued a subpoena ordering FBI Director Christopher A. Wray to turn over the form by May 10.
The FBI said it received the letter and subpoena but declined to comment beyond that.
It is a rough period for the FBI, which feverishly pursued Donald Trump as a candidate and as president. That included lying to a court to obtain a surveillance warrant on a Trump campaign figure and pursuing the now-discredited Steele dossier, a Democratic opposition research document that fabricated lurid stories about Mr. Trump and dealings with Russia.
Mr. Grassley, in particular, has been critical of the FBI’s decisions.
He and Mr. Comer said they are now investigating the FBI’s handling of the report on Mr. Biden.
“The DOJ and the FBI appear to have valuable, verifiable information that you have failed to disclose to the American people. Therefore, Congress will proceed to conduct an independent and objective review of this matter, free from those agencies’ influence,” they said.
Mr. Comer’s subpoena covers “all FD-1023 forms, including within any open, closed or restricted access case files, created or modified in June 2020, containing the term ‘Biden,’ including all accompanying attachments and documents to those FD-1023 forms.”
The oversight committee chairman is already pursuing a broad investigation into the Biden family and its dealings.
The committee has been pursuing questions about the president’s son Hunter Biden and his role on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian natural gas company, while his father was vice president in the Obama administration.
In March, Mr. Comer said financial records he obtained show that several members of the president’s family received money from a Chinese energy company from 2015 to 2017 through Biden family associates.
Rob Walker, a family friend and business associate, collected $3 million from State Energy HK Ltd., and James Gilliar, another family friend, collected nearly $1.1 million.
They then sent money to Hunter Biden, the president’s brother James Biden and the president’s daughter-in-law, Hallie Biden, Mr. Comer said.
Last month, Mr. Comer said he was exploring six other Biden family members as well.
“The Oversight Committee will continue to pursue additional bank records to follow the Bidens’ tangled web of financial transactions to determine if the Biden family has been targeted by foreign actors and if there is a national security threat,” he said.
Democrats on the oversight committee say Mr. Comer is misrepresenting, or in some cases fabricating, his investigative findings.
Mr. Biden has said he was not involved in his family’s dealings while he was vice president.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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