“Highly credible” whistleblowers have come forward to a top Senate Republican alleging a widespread effort within the FBI to downplay or discredit negative information about President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, according to letters reviewed by CBS News.
“Information provided to my office involves concerns about the FBI’s receipt and use of derogatory information related to Hunter Biden and the FBI’s misrepresentation of acquired evidence as disinformation,” GOP said. Senator Chuck Grassley wrote FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland on July 25. “The volume and consistency of these allegations corroborate their credibility and make this letter necessary.”
Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the whistleblowers alleged that legitimate streams of information and intelligence about the president’s son were characterized as likely disinformation or prematurely shut down before the 2020 presidential election.
CBS News first reported in April that more than 150 financial transactions involving the global business affairs of Hunter or James Biden were marked regarding US banks for further review. CBS News previously reported that the U.S. attorney in Delaware has been investigating possible tax fraud, money laundering and foreign influence peddling.
President Biden has said he trusted his family to do the right thing and was not involved in his son and brother’s business.
A spokesman for Delaware United States Attorney David Weiss declined to comment on whether he was aware of whistleblower allegations that credible reports about Hunter Biden were allegedly labeled disinformation by the FBI and whether those allegations had been considered in its investigation.
In the correspondence, Grassley cited a 2020 FBI intelligence assessment that was “used by a team at FBI headquarters to incorrectly discredit Hunter Biden’s negative information as disinformation.” . He continued: “Based on allegations, verified and verifiable disparaging information about Hunter Biden was falsely labeled as disinformation.”
In October 2020, a month before the election, “a senior FBI agent in the Washington Field Office ordered the closure of a reporting line derogatory to Hunter Biden.” An earlier letter from Grassley identified the agent as Timothy Thibault.
“[T]The allegations provided to my office appear to indicate that there was a plan among certain FBI officials to undermine derogatory information related to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting that it was disinformation,” Grassley said.
He said federal law enforcement whistleblowers came to his office after a May 31 letter he wrote noted a “pattern of active public partisanship in his public social media content,” in reference to Thibault.
In that May 31 letter, Grassley also accused Thibault of alleged violations of “[f]laws, regulations, and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) guidelines.”
“Whistleblowers have informed me that although the FBI and the Department of Justice maintain policies that dictate specific standards that require a presumption of substantial facts to initiate an investigation, Thibault and other employees of the Department of Justice and the FBI did not meet these requirements.”
The letter also singled out Justice Department official Richard Pilger, identified as the director of the Election Crimes Branch within the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, who, along with Thibault, was said to be “deeply involved in the decisions to open and continue this investigation.” ,” an apparent reference to a recently opened investigation into the Trump campaign.
Grassley told Wray and Garland “the opening memo that you approved” included media reports citing investigations by a “liberal nonprofit” when a full investigation of a political nature requires “a thorough of facts”.
Grassley continued: “In light of these allegations, I remain deeply concerned that the political bias of a select group of officials at the Department of Justice and the FBI has infected the usual process and procedure of the Department of Justice and of the FBI to open and conduct high-profile, politically charged investigations.”
In addition to requesting records from the FBI and Justice Department by August 8, Grassley complained about the way the bureau and department are being run.
“Attorney General Garland and Director Wray, simply put, based on the allegations I have received from numerous whistleblowers, you have systemic and existential problems in your agencies,” Grassley wrote. “You have an obligation to the country to take these allegations seriously, to investigate immediately.”
The FBI said it had received the letters but declined to comment.
When asked for comment about the letter, the Justice Department said it had received the letter, declined further comment and did not refer CBS News to any of Pilger’s attorneys.
Andres Triay and Robert Legare contributed to this report.
Catherine Herridge
