WASHINGTON – Senate
Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley is calling on the FBI to
produce specific records in its possession indicating potential criminal
activity in the Biden family’s foreign business deals. It remains unclear
whether those FBI records, which have been reviewed by Grassley’s investigative
staff, have been shared with the Delaware U.S. Attorney’s Office as part of its
ongoing criminal investigation into Hunter Biden.
“
Notably,
the Justice Department and FBI have not disputed the accuracy of the
allegations that I have made public since May 31, 2022. The Justice
Department’s and FBI’s continued silence on these matters is deafening and
further erodes their credibility. Simply put, enough is enough – the Justice
Department and FBI must come clean to Congress and the American people with
respect to the steps they have taken, or failed to take, relating to the Hunter
Biden investigation,” Grassley wrote in a letter
to FBI and Justice Department leadership as well as the Delaware U.S. attorney.
In
the letter, Grassley attached a contract, signed by Hunter and James Biden and
three other business associates. The contract was part of an arrangement designed
to funnel $5 million from the Chinese communist government-connected CEFC to
Hunter and James Biden to compensate them for work done while Joe Biden was
vice president, according to an FBI interview summary of Tony Bobulinski. But
other records held by the FBI reveal frustration by the Bidens about CEFC’s
payment being delayed.
Records previously
released by Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) show James and Hunter Biden
ultimately profited from a $5 million payment from a company connected to CEFC
via a separate arrangement.
Other
records held by the FBI shed light on Hunter Biden’s business and financial
relationship with Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky. These documents include specific
details about conversations by non-government individuals relevant to potential
criminal conduct by Hunter Biden. These documents also indicate that Joe Biden
was aware of Hunter Biden’s business arrangements and may have been involved in
some of them. It remains unclear whether the FBI took appropriate steps to
follow up on this information or passed it to the Delaware U.S. attorney’s
office.
Whistleblowers
Grassley
frequently hears from current and former government employees who come forward
to shine a light on fraud, waste, abuse and gross mismanagement in government
agencies or by government contractors. He protects the identities of these
sources and frequently promotes policies that shield whistleblowers from
retaliation. Individuals wishing to call attention to mismanagement or
misconduct within the Justice Department and its component agencies, such as
the FBI, about the aforementioned allegations or other misconduct should
contact Sen. Grassley’s investigations unit at (202) 224-3738 or email
wb_reports@judiciary-rep.senate.gov.
Director
Wray has personally committed to Senator Grassley that whistleblowers who have
come forward will not face retaliation.
October 13,
2022
VIA ELECTRONIC
TRANSMISSION
The
Honorable Merrick Garland
Attorney
General
Department
of Justice
The
Honorable Christopher Wray
Director
Federal
Bureau of Investigation
The
Honorable David Weiss
U.S.
Attorney
District
of Delaware
Dear
Attorney General Garland, Director Wray and U.S. Attorney Weiss:
Since
May 31, 2022, I’ve written three letters to the Justice Department and FBI
based on protected whistleblower disclosures that indicate a pattern and
practice of political decisions being made at the FBI’s Washington Field Office
(WFO) and FBI Headquarters.
[1] In those letters, I’ve noted that Congress
has a constitutional responsibility to ensure that the Executive Branch
executes the law and uses taxpayer money appropriated to it in accordance with
congressional intent. In furtherance of
that constitutional responsibility, Congress has an obligation to investigate
the Executive Branch for fraud, waste, abuse and gross mismanagement – acts
which undermine faith in the American people’s governmental institutions. Those constitutional and legislative
responsibilities apply to this letter to you.
My previous letters also invited individuals, including current and
former government employees, to contact me and my office to confidentially
report allegations of fraud, waste, abuse and gross mismanagement by FBI and
Justice Department officials. In
response, my office has received a significant number of protected
communications from highly credible whistleblowers which have increased since
my initial outreach to your offices.
Based
on recent protected disclosures to my office, the FBI has within its possession
significant, impactful and voluminous evidence with respect to potential
criminal conduct by Hunter Biden and James Biden.
[2]
The
evidence within the FBI’s possession that I am referencing is included, in
part, in a summary of Tony Bobulinski’s October 23, 2020, interview with FBI agents. In that interview, Mr. Bobulinski stated that
the arrangement Hunter Biden and James Biden created with foreign nationals
connected to the communist Chinese government included assisting them with
potential business deals and investments while Joe Biden was Vice President;
however, that work remained intentionally uncompensated while Joe Biden was Vice
President. After Joe Biden left the Vice
Presidency, the summary makes clear that Hunter Biden and James Biden worked
with CEFC and affiliated individuals to compensate them for that past work and
the benefits they procured for CEFC. According
to the summary, Hunter Biden, James Biden and their business associates created
a joint venture that would serve as a vehicle to accomplish that financial
compensation, and that arrangement was made sometime after a meeting in Miami
between Hunter Biden and CEFC officials in February 2017. According to the summary, that vehicle was
called SinoHawk, which was owned 50 percent by Oneida Holdings LLC (Oneida) and
50 percent by Hudson West IV. According
to the summary, Oneida was made of five evenly divided LLCs, one for each business
associate – including Hunter Biden and James Biden. However, according to the
summary, 10 percent of Hunter Biden’s interest was to be held for Joe Biden. Attached to this letter is the Oneida
Operating Agreement which lists Hunter Biden, James Biden and their business
associates and the percentage of interest for each individual.
[3]
Included below is a copy of the
signature block for the Oneida Operating Agreement which was signed on May 22,
2017.
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According
to the interview summary, the money transferred to Oneida as part of the
venture to compensate the Bidens was supposed to consist of an unsecured $5
million loan, intended to be forgivable, from CEFC in 2017. Similarly, the FBI has within its possession
a different document, dated in October 2020, but referencing events that
occurred years before. That document indicates that in May 2017 – approximately
three months after the joint venture was hatched in Miami and the same month it
was officially formed – Hunter Biden yelled at CEFC officials at a meeting for
failing to fund the joint venture. That
same document notes that as of July 2017 the money still had not been
transferred and James Biden considered calling CEFC officials and threatening
to withdraw Biden family support from future deals. Notably, my September 2020 report with
Senator Johnson and our floor speeches from this year made public bank records
and financial data that showed that Hunter Biden and James Biden profited from
a $5 million wire from a company connected to CEFC in August of 2017,
indicating that it could have been the money originally intended for SinoHawk. However, based on records, that money was not
transmitted to the SinoHawk joint venture, rather it was transmitted to Hudson
West III which could partially explain SinoHawk’s eventual failure.
[4] As noted in our report and our floor
speeches, the money from the wire was transferred from Hudson West III to
Hunter Biden’s firm, Owasco, and James Biden’s firm, Lion Hall Group, apparently
circumventing SinoHawk.
[5]
Based
on allegations provided to my office, the information provided by Mr.
Bobulinski formed a sufficient basis to open a full field investigation on pay-to-play
grounds; however, it is unclear whether the FBI did so and whether the
information is part of the ongoing criminal investigation by U.S. Attorney
Weiss.
The
FBI also has a document within its possession that notes that then former Vice
President Joe Biden met with Hunter Biden and his business associates at a
conference in Los Angeles on May 2, 2017, and May 3, 2017. The meetings have been publicly disclosed;
however, the fact that the FBI maintains documents referencing these data
points has not been made public before.
Lastly,
the FBI has within its possession a series of documents relating to information
on Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of Burisma, and his business and financial associations
with Hunter Biden. The documents in the
FBI’s possession include specific details with respect to conversations by
non-government individuals relevant to potential criminal conduct by Hunter
Biden. These documents also indicate
that Joe Biden was aware of Hunter Biden’s business arrangements and may have
been involved in some of them. Based on
allegations, it is unclear whether the FBI followed normal investigative
procedure to determine the truth and accuracy of the information or shut down
investigative activity based on improper disinformation claims in advance of
the 2020 election, just as it did with Hunter Biden information that I wrote to
you about on July 25, 2022.
[6] It is also unclear whether U.S. Attorney
Weiss has performed his own due diligence on these and related allegations.
These
new whistleblower disclosures beg the question: in light of the allegations
that I have brought to your attention, what have the FBI and Justice
Department, to include U.S. Attorney Weiss, done to investigate?
Notably,
the Justice Department and FBI have not disputed the accuracy of the
allegations that I have made public since May 31, 2022. The Justice Department’s and FBI’s continued
silence on these matters is deafening and further erodes their credibility. Simply put, enough is enough – the Justice
Department and FBI must come clean to Congress and the American people with
respect to the steps they have taken, or failed to take, relating to the Hunter
Biden investigation. With respect to the
new – and numerous – legally protected disclosures that have been made to my
office, please provide the following no later than October 27, 2022, so that
Congress can perform an independent and objective review:
1.
The
full and unredacted FBI summary of Tony Bobulinski’s October 23, 2020,
interview.
2.
Was
Tony Bobulinski’s interview summary placed within Guardian? Was it placed within an investigative case
file?
3.
The
full and unredacted October 2020 document that lists a timeline of events associated
with Hunter Biden’s business associates, foreign and domestic.
4.
All
records relating to the May 2, 2017, and May 3, 2017, meetings between Tony
Bobulinski and Joe Biden.
5.
All
records,
[7]
including FD-71, FD-209a, FD-302, FD-794b, FD-1023, FD-1040a, FD-1057 and
Guardian leads, from January 1, 2014 to the date of this letter that reference
Mykola Zlochevsky, Hunter Biden, James Biden and Joe Biden.
Thank
you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Charles
E. Grassley
Ranking
Member
Committee
on the Judiciary
cc:
The
Honorable Richard Durbin
Chairman
Committee
on the Judiciary
The
Honorable Michael E. Horowitz
Inspector
General
Department
of Justice
-30-
[2] At my direction,
my staff have reviewed the unclassified records.
[4] Chairman Charles
Grassley, S. Comm. on Fin., and Chairman Ron Johnson, S. Comm. on Homeland Sec.
and Governmental Aff.
Hunter Biden, Burisma, and Corruption: The Impact on
U.S. Government Policy and Related Concerns 78 (Sept. 23, 2020)
https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/HSGAC%20-%20Finance%20Joint%20Report%202020.09.23.pdf; Floor Speech,
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Sen. Ron Johnson Discuss Investigation into Biden
Family Foreign Financial Entanglements - Part 1 (Mar. 28, 2022)
https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/remarks/grassley-johnson-discuss-investigation-into-biden-family-foreign-financial-entanglements_-part-1;
see also Floor
Speech, Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Sen. Ron Johnson Release Bank Records Tying
Biden Family to CCP-Linked Individuals & Companies (Mar. 29, 2022),
https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/remarks/grassley-johnson-release-bank-records-tying-biden-family-to-ccp-linked-individuals-and-companies; Floor Speech,
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Sen. Ron Johnson, The Biden Family Investigation –
Part III: James Biden (Apr. 5, 2022)
https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/remarks/the-biden-family-investigation_part-iii-james-biden.
[7] “Records” include any written, recorded, or
graphic material of any kind, including letters, memoranda, reports,
notes,
electronic data (e-mails, email attachments, and any other
electronically-created or stored information),
calendar
entries, inter-office communications, meeting minutes, phone/voice mail or
recordings/records of verbal
communications,
and drafts (whether or not they resulted in final documents). This definition applies to all requests for
records in the questions for the record.