Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Wednesday released an FBI document that House GOP members have long been seeking -- FBI Director Christopher Wray was even threatened with a contempt-of-Congress for not sharing it.
The Federal Document 1023 was released Thursday only lightly redacted after Grassley acquired it through legally protected disclosures by Justice Department whistleblowers.
"For the better part of a year, I've been pushing the Justice Department and FBI to provide details on its handling of very significant allegations from a trusted FBI informant implicating then-Vice President Biden in a criminal bribery scheme," Grassley wrote in a statement. "While the FBI sought to obfuscate and redact, the American people can now read this document for themselves, without the filter of politicians or bureaucrats, thanks to brave and heroic whistleblowers."
It shows a confidential human source (CHS) told the FBI that President Joe Biden was a part of a criminal bribery scheme with Ukraine energy oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky while Biden was vice president, corroborating allegations former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani had attempted to expose during the Trump administration.
"CHS told Zlochevsky that any such payments to the Bidens would complicate matters, and Burisma should hire 'some normal U.S. oil and gas advisers' because the Bidens have no experience with that business sector," the 1023 reads. "Zlochevsky made some comment that although Hunter Biden 'was stupid, and his [Zlochevsky's] dog was smarter,' Zlochevsky needed to keep Hunter Biden [on the board] 'so everything will be OK.'"
Also, the document shows confidence the Biden bribery scheme was allegedly damaged by the election of former President Donald Trump in 2016, but no one would find out about it..
"CHS inquired whether Zlochevsky was happy with the U.S. election results," the 1023 read. "Zlochevsky replied that he was not happy Trump won the election. CHS asked Zlochevsky whether he was concerned about Burisma's involvement with the Bidens. Zlochevsky stated he didn't want to pay the Bidens and he was 'pushed to pay' them."
It added the firing of prosecutor Viktor Shokin — as Joe Biden's urging under the threat of withholding aid — was ostensibly enough to have justified the payments to the Bidens.
"Zlochevsky stated Shokin had already been fired, and no investigation was currently going on, and that nobody would find out about his financial dealings with the Bidens," the 1023 read.
Grassley is working with House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., in investigation the Biden family's foreign "influence peddling" business.
"What did the Justice Department and FBI do with the detailed information in the document?" Grassley asked in his statement. "And why have they tried to conceal it from Congress and the American people for so long? The Justice Department and FBI have failed to come clean, but Chairman Comer and I intend to find out."
The document is just further evidence added to the troves of documents, financial records, and testimony already collected by Comer's oversight, Comer added.
"The FBI's Biden Bribery Record tracks closely with the evidence uncovered by the Oversight Committee's Biden family influence peddling investigation," Comer wrote in a statement. "In the FBI's record, the Burisma executive claims that he didn't pay the 'big guy' directly but that he used several bank accounts to conceal the money. That sounds an awful lot like how the Bidens conduct business: Using multiple bank accounts to hide the source and total amount of the money."
Notably, this comes one day after two IRS whistleblowers testified publicly about the Biden Justice Department "slow-walking" and obstructing their investigation into Hunter Biden's tax crimes — even making sure not to mention President Joe Biden in interviews or documents.
"At our hearing with IRS whistleblowers, they testified that they had never seen or heard of this record during the Biden criminal investigation, despite having potentially corroborating evidence," Comer's statement concluded. "Given the misconduct and politicization at the Department of Justice, the American people must be able to read this record for themselves.
"I thank Sen. Grassley for providing much needed transparency to the American people. We must hold the Department of Justice accountable for seeking to bury this record to protect the Bidens."