On Monday, Oversight Committee Chair James Comer and ranking member Jamie Raskin were briefed by FBI officials on the FD-1023 document alleging a bribery scheme between then-Vice President Biden and a “foreign national.”
After leaving the secure briefing room, Rep. Raskin (D-MD) told reporters that the FBI officials informed them that then-Attorney General William Barr had passed the document on to former US Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania Scott Brady to look into the allegations. Raskin claimed that Brady’s investigation was closed.
However, on Tuesday, Barr told The Federalist’s Margot Cleveland that Rankin’s claim is untrue.
Barr said the investigation was not closed down. Instead, the FD-1023 was sent to the US Attorney in Delaware “for further investigation.”
On Thursday, Barr reiterated this to the New York Post, saying Raskin “seems confused about the limited scope” of former US Attorney Brady’s review.
Barr explained that Brady’s office was only “adding evidence” to make sure that the allegations in the FD-1023 weren’t “disinformation” before the document was passed onto an existing Justice Department investigation into the Bidens.
Barr told the Post that Brady wasn’t authorized to open an investigation but only to assess “the credibility of the evidence.”
This evidence was then sent to US Attorney for Delaware David Weiss.
According to a source who spoke with the New York Post, Brady began looking into the form, along with other allegations made by Rudy Giuliani, in January 2020. His office determined that the allegations in the FD-1023 were not “disinformation” but were “credible.”
After facing threats that he would be held in contempt of Congress, FBI Director Christopher Wray agreed to allow Oversight Committee members to review the FD-1023 on Thursday.
The Washington Examiner reported that after reviewing the document, some Republican members confirmed that the allegations made in the form involve the Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
Republican committee members who spoke with reporters said the FD-1023 alleges that a Burisma made “multiple” payments of $5 million to members of the Biden family. Those payments were then routed through multiple bank accounts before reaching then-Vice President Biden.
According to Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Burisma, which was under investigation by former Ukrainian prosecutor Victor Shokin, paid the Biden family to get Shokin removed.
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told reporters that the FD-1023 implicates Biden in a bribery scheme “to get Shokin fired” so his investigation into Burisma would stop.
