“Highly credible” whistleblowers allege the FBI and Justice Department are engaging in a coordinated scheme to downplay and discredit negative information related to Hunter Biden.
The shocking allegation was revealed in a letter that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray. That letter was made public on Monday.
What are the allegations?
Grassley disclosed that his office has received “a significant number” of legally protected communications from whistleblowers regarding these allegations.
“The information provided to my office involves concerns about the FBI’s receipt and use of derogatory information relating to Hunter Biden, and the FBI’s false portrayal of acquired evidence as disinformation,” Grassley explained. “The volume and consistency of these allegations substantiate their credibility and necessitate this letter.”
The first allegation of allegedly corrupt behavior highlights an FBI intelligence assessment opened in 2020.
That assessment, according to Grassley, was “used by an FBI headquarters team to improperly discredit negative Hunter Biden information as disinformation.”
“Based on allegations, verified and verifiable derogatory information on Hunter Biden was falsely labeled as disinformation,” Grassley explained. “Accordingly, the allegations provided to my office appear to indicate that there was a scheme in place among certain FBI officials to undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation.”
The second serious allegation centers on FBI agents placing “their findings with respect to whether reporting was disinformation in a restricted access sub-file reviewable only by the particular agents responsible for uncovering the specific information.”
“This is problematic because it does not allow for proper oversight and opens the door to improper influence,” Grassley wrote.
The third allegation claims a supervisory agent ordered closed “an avenue of additional derogatory Hunter Biden reporting” on the basis that it was vulnerable to disinformation.
But, Grassley wrote, “according to allegations, all of the reporting was either verified or verifiable via criminal search warrants.”
“Despite the matter being closed in such a way that the investigative avenue might be opened later, it’s alleged that FBI officials, including [the supervisory agent], subsequently attempted to improperly mark the matter in FBI systems so that it could not be opened in the future,” Grassley said.
What did the FBI, DOJ say?
Both agencies confirmed they received the letter, but neither offered additional comment.
However, Grassley made it clear what the allegations mean if they prove to be true.
“If these allegations are true and accurate, the Justice Department and FBI are — and have been — institutionally corrupted to their very core to the point in which the United States Congress and the American people will have no confidence in the equal application of the law,” Grassley declared.
“Attorney General Garland and Director Wray, simply put, based on the allegations that I’ve received from numerous whistleblowers, you have systemic and existential problems within your agencies,” he added.