Lawmakers are scrutinizing a pattern of possible cover-ups by federal agencies to shield President Joe Biden following a new whistleblower tip alleging a pay-for-play scheme from his time as vice president.
House and Senate lawmakers ordered the FBI to turn over a document it has been sitting on since the 2020 election that claims then-Vice President Biden engaged in “a criminal scheme” with a foreign national that involved an exchange of money for policy decisions.
The new whistleblower complaint about the undisclosed document comes just two weeks after an IRS whistleblower accused officials at the Department of Justice of shielding President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, by giving him preferential treatment in an ongoing tax crime probe.
It follows a pattern of federal officials concealing information that may be damaging to the president, say GOP investigators who are examining the Biden family business deals and a possible influence peddling scheme.
“There’s no question whether or not this document exists,” House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer told Fox Business. “The question is, what did the FBI do with this very damaging information that they received during the presidential election?”
Federal law enforcement also failed to disclose it had in its possession Hunter Biden’s discarded laptop computer. The computer hard drive contained documents and communications detailing the family’s lucrative foreign business deals involving China, Russia, Ukraine and other countries, as well as explicit and disturbing photos of Hunter Biden using drugs and engaging in sexual activity.
The hard drive only became known to the public after it was leaked to the New York Post, weeks before the 2020 election, via the repair shop owner where Hunter Biden abandoned the laptop.
A new House panel tasked with examining the weaponization of the federal government has summoned two former Obama administration officials to provide transcribed interviews later this month about their involvement in a letter circulated ahead of the 2020 election that discredited the Hunter Biden laptop stories as Russian disinformation.
Former CIA Director John Brennan is scheduled to testify on May 11 and James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence, will provide an interview on May 17. The two were asked to testify after Republicans accused Secretary of State Anthony Blinken of serving as a catalyst for the letter, which was signed by 51 former intelligence officials. Mr. Blinken denied the charge.
Mr. Comer, a Kentucky Republican leading the House investigation into the Biden family business deals, wants to know how the FBI handled the latest allegation about a pay-for-play scheme involving then-Vice President Biden, which, like the laptop, was never publicly disclosed by the bureau.
“They thought when they got that laptop from the repair man that they took it and it disappeared,” Mr. Comer said on Fox Business. “They didn’t know that there were copies out there. So we want to know, what did they do with this document?”
Mr. Comer issued a subpoena to the FBI to turn over the form, which is not classified.
“The whistleblower disclosures made are consistent with the Oversight Committee’s independent investigation into the Biden family’s business schemes,” Mr. Comer told The Washington Times. “Given the severity of these allegations, we need to know if the FBI followed up on this lead or if they sought to conceal it and prevent further investigation. That starts by getting the record.”
Across the Capitol, GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin have been probing whistleblower complaints of an FBI coverup of evidence involving the business deals of Hunter Biden and the president’s brother, James Biden.
Mr. Grassley has demanded FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland turn over information about former Biden family business associate Tony Boulinski and his meetings with Mr. Biden before he ran for president, as well as documents related to the business dealings of Hunter Biden and James Biden.
“The Justice Department and FBI must come clean to Congress and the American people with respect to the steps they have taken, or failed to take, relating to the Hunter Biden investigation,” Mr. Grassley wrote to Mr. Garland and Mr. Wray.
So far, neither the FBI nor the Justice Department has provided any of the information to GOP investigators, Mr. Grassley said recently, but they are not denying they have it.
“Not once – let me emphasize that again – not once, has the Justice Department or FBI substantively disputed the whistleblower allegations that I’ve made public,” Mr. Grassley said.
Mr. Grassley believes the FBI has unclassified, internal documents that include serious, detailed claims directed beyond Biden family members and associates that extend to President Biden.
“What we don’t know is what, if anything, the FBI has done to verify these claims or investigate further,” Mr. Grassley said. “The FBI’s recent history of botching politically charged investigations demands close congressional oversight.”
Mr. Comer said the lawmakers know details about the foreign national named in the whistleblower claim but they are not disclosing them.
Democrats have dismissed the whistleblower claims and GOP investigation as politically motivated and unverified despite basing their first impeachment of President Trump on a whistleblower report.
“Committee Republicans are recycling unsubstantiated claims floated by Senate Republicans by issuing a subpoena to the FBI to require the release of a June 2020 tip from an unknown informant,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who is the top Democrat on the House Oversight panel.
Mr. Raskin called the allegations “one more baseless partisan stunt” aimed at hurting Mr. Biden.
Mr. Biden has not commented recently on any of the whistleblower claims but has denied knowing about or participating in foreign business deals involving his family or their associates.
Source:Washington Times
