Comer Says Biden Linked to $5 Million Bribe While VP, But FBI Is Obstructing Investigation.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), has claimed that an informant file he is seeking from the FBI connects President Biden to a $5 million bribery scheme during his time as vice president.
In a letter addressed to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Comer disclosed the amount of the alleged bribe for the first time on Wednesday. He warned that if the FBI fails to share the file in response to a subpoena issued on May 3, he will initiate contempt proceedings.
According to Comer’s letter, the informant tip is dated June 30, 2020, providing an additional clue to the story. The allegation has generated speculation due to the extensive consulting work undertaken by the Biden family in countries where Joe Biden held significant influence as the vice president.
Coincidentally, 17 days prior to the tip-off, Ukrainian officials held a press conference in Kyiv where they presented $5 million in cash purportedly offered as a bribe to halt an investigation into the founder of the natural gas company Burisma, Mykola Zlochevsky.
Hunter Biden had a cushy board position at Burisma from 2014 to 2019 despite having no experience in the energy sector, earning more than $1 million a year. During this time, an executive from Burisma had a meeting with then-Vice President Biden at a dinner in Washington on April 16, 2015. In 2020, Ukrainian officials seized a large amount of cash in American $100 bills, which reportedly matches the amount Joe Biden allegedly received years earlier. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine arrested three Kyiv bureaucrats, including a former and current tax official, and an additional $1 million was allegedly offered as a bribe via a middleman.
A Ukrainian anti-corruption prosecutor, Nazar Kholodnytsky, claimed that neither Hunter Biden nor Joe Biden were implicated in that specific case, but, according to Comer, two and a half weeks later, an FBI document accusing Joe Biden of bribery was either “created or modified.”
The Oversight Committee has not confirmed the country where Biden allegedly accepted the bribe as vice president, but a source told The New York Post that it is not believed to be a deal with China—likely meaning it involves either Russia or Ukraine.
The FBI has so far refused to provide the informant file linking Joe Biden to the $5 million bribe, despite the document being subpoenaed by Comer.
“As previously stated, the whistleblower disclosures indicated that the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) are in possession of an FD-1023 form describing an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions,” Comer wrote to FBI Director Wray. “The FBI’s refusal to produce this single document is obstructionist. Nevertheless, to narrow the breadth of the subpoena, we are providing additional terms based on unclassified and legally protected whistleblower disclosures that may be referenced in the FD-1023 form: ‘June 30, 2020’ and ‘five million,’” he added.
The FBI has until May 30, 2023, to respond; otherwise, contempt proceedings will be initiated.