Suspected Ukraine bribes fuel concerns of Biden’s compromise.

Corruption in Ukraine: Congress Battles FBI Over Alleged Bribery Scheme Involving President Joe Biden and Hunter Biden

Corruption in Ukraine is back in the spotlight as Congress tussles with the FBI to uncover more information concerning an alleged $5 million bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

“We fear that this president is compromised,” Comer told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Tuesday, noting Ukraine bribery allegations fit a larger pattern of millions of dollars flowing to the Biden family from other countries under suspicious circumstances.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer’s Fight for Transparency

House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has fought tooth and nail to secure a June 2020 FBI FD-1023 file detailing claims from a confidential human source about a foreign national paying six figures to secure favorable actions from Biden at a time when he was vice president.

After issuing a subpoena for the document last month and then threatening to hold Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply, Comer managed to get the FBI to show redacted versions of the file to himself and other members of his committee. The FBI had resisted the release of FD-1023 information, saying such claims are unvetted and risk jeopardizing investigations and sources if revealed.

Allegations of Bribery and Pay-for-Play Schemes

After viewing a copy of the document, Comer and other Republican lawmakers on the oversight panel offered more details about the informant’s claims to the public, making it clear that the matter pertained to Ukraine. The document relays allegations from a trusted and paid source, they said, concerning how an executive for Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian gas company that employed Hunter Biden on its board for several years, angled to bribe away an anti-corruption investigation perceived as hurting Burisma’s chances to buy into the U.S. energy market. GOP members conveyed how these shady dealings might be commonplace in Ukraine, but high-ranking U.S. officials have no business being anywhere near these pay-for-play schemes.

The Burisma Connection and Biden’s Actions as Vice President

Burisma is a familiar name as it came up often during the 2020 election cycle, leading up to the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump, who was later acquitted by the GOP-led Senate. During his time as vice president, Biden sought to pressure Ukraine into firing top prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who is suspected to have conducted an anti-corruption investigation into Burisma and its owner, by threatening to withhold $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees to the Ukrainian government. There is a video of Biden seemingly bragging at a 2018 event about how Ukraine fired Shokin after he made this demand, while Biden contends that Shokin was fired due to his own history of corruption in Ukraine.

Trump and his supporters pushed claims that Biden acted in order to protect his son and Burisma, as noted by the Associated Press. Trump’s then-personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, even brought forward information that federal investigators were tasked with examining. Detractors pushed back by pointing to assertions that Shokin may not have been actively investigating Burisma as well as contentions that the United States and its allies called for Shokin’s ouster over the view that the prosecutor was generally ineffective at rooting out corruption.

Following the Money: Uncovering a “Web of LLCs”

Whatever the case, Comer seems convinced that following the money is key to clearing up the uncertainty, not just in cases involving Ukraine, but other countries as well. That is if he can untangle what he has described as a “web of LLCs.” At least 20 “sham” companies and complicated financial transactions have been used to hide money funneled to members of the Biden family from foreign countries, Comer said in a tweet. This follows House Oversight Committee Republicans paying a visit to the Treasury Department in April for an examination of Biden-related suspicious activity reports (SARs) used by financial institutions to flag possible criminal behavior.

Political Backlash and Calls for Transparency

Though the GOP-led oversight panel said its investigation may inform legislative reforms to strengthen disclosure requirements, Biden called the corruption allegations “a bunch of malarkey” and Democrats in Congress dismissed the GOP inquiry as a politically motivated endeavor to tar Biden ahead of the 2024 election.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top Democrat on the oversight panel, issued statements that sought to tie the Ukraine informant’s work to Giuliani, whose own dealings with Ukraine have been subject to scrutiny. Federal investigators closed the assessment into the bribery allegations, which made it clear the “Trump Justice Department concluded that the evidence failed to justify further inquiry,” Raskin added.

But in a Fox News op-ed this week, Comer pushed back on the Giuliani connection, stressing the informant’s claims were separate from documents Giuliani gave to the FBI in January 2020, and he said the FBI confirmed that the confidential human source’s information is being used in an “ongoing investigation.” The chairman pointed to how former Attorney General William Barr said the allegations were sent to Delaware, where U.S. Attorney David Weiss has been conducting a probe into Hunter Biden’s financial affairs, “for further investigation.”

Comer said “disinformation” put forward by the Left underscores the need for the FBI to actually produce the FD-1023 form to his committee, not just show redacted copies to panel members as it has done so far. “We need to know what, if anything, the FBI did to verify the serious allegations contained within this record,” Comer said. “The American people need to know if President Biden sold out the United States to make money for himself.”

When he first demanded the FBI share the document with allegations about a $5 million bribery scheme in early May, Comer said he learned about its existence from protected disclosures to the office of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), a vocal whistleblower proponent in Congress.

Providing yet another assist the Comer, Grassley appeared on the Senate floor this week to announce that he has read a version of the 2020 FD-1023 file that has fewer redactions than what the FBI permitted members of the oversight panel to see. He shared that the redacted sections show the informant saying the foreign national claimed to have 17 audio recordings between himself and Hunter Biden as well 5 with then-Vice President Joe Biden “as a sort of insurance policy” just in case “he got into a tight spot.”

The FBI has strived to say as little as possible about the document despite the revelations. In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said he has “no idea” if there are voice recordings, though he stressed the document that allegedly mentions them is redacted to protect the source.

Although Comer called off a contempt hearing last week, the FBI may yet face the wrath of the GOP-led House if more standoffs. Asked about the recordings mentioned by Grassley this week, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) told the Daily Mail the House is “gonna press to get everything we can out.”

Expanding his corruption inquiry, Comer subpoenaed Devon Archer, who is believed to have played a role in Biden family deals involving countries such as Ukraine, Russia, and China, demanding a deposition. In addition, a congressional source told The Daily Wire there are other FD-1023 records dating back to at least 2017 that Comer hopes to see this week, as talks with the FBI continue.

“Republicans are going to follow the facts and ensure accountability for the American people,” Comer said in his op-ed. “Americans have lost trust in the FBI’s ability to enforce the law impartially and demand answers, transparency, and accountability.”

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