$5 Million for one Biden, $5 Million for the other Biden

Committee members reveal what is in the FD-1023

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The battle to review an FD-1023 has been going on for over a month now, and today was finally the day that the document was made available for all House Committee on Oversight and Accountability (HCOA) members to view the unclassified document.

The Republican members all took their opportunity today to share what was in the document, and there has been a battle of narratives and claims that has made this entire saga a little confusing.

My goal is to break down what everyone is saying, how we got here, and what the heck is an FD-1023.

This entire story surrounds an FBI form called an FD-1023 filed by a confidential human source (CHS).

What is an FD-1023?

You would have never imagined that a bureaucratic standardized form would be the source of so much drama.

The FBI uses an FD-1023 to collect and catalog information for its law enforcement and national security work.

Agents use the form to record unverified reports from a CHS. Also, the FBI relied heavily on CHS, so their identities are highly sensitive.

Origin Story

On May 3, 2024, Grassley and Comer informed AG Garland and FBI Dir. Wray that they had received "highly credible unclassified whistleblower disclosures" that the DOJ and the FBI possessed an unclassified FD-1023 that describes the details of an alleged criminal scheme of

“Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions. It has been alleged that the document includes a precise description of how the alleged criminal scheme was employed as well as its purpose.”

Grassley and Comer wanted to review the FD-1023 and inquire what actions, if any, the FBI took or if it investigated the claims it contained.

Dir. Wray was subpoenaed on that same day by the HCOA to produce the FD-1023 by May 10. The FBI did not meet the deadline, claiming that the search terms produced too many results, so there was no way to know if they had the document. At this point, there was a lot of back and forth between the committee counsel and the FBI negotiating the production of this document.

Ultimately, the date was extended to May 30 with added search terms to help narrow the search.

Chairman Comer is narrowing the breadth of the subpoena by providing two additional terms that may be referenced in the FD-1023 form: “June 30, 2020” and “five million.”  These terms relate to the date on the FD-1023 form and its reference to the amount of money the foreign national allegedly paid to receive the desired policy outcome.

The FBI again missed the deadline, and Comer again threatened to hold Wray in contempt of Congress.

Wray eventually confirmed the existence of the document but cited concern about risking exposing the identity of the CHS for why the FBI could not produce it to the entire committee.

On May 30, during an interview with Fox News' "America's Newsroom," Grassley admitted that he had been permitted to see the document. Still, the document must be available to all HOCA members to hold the FBI accountable.

“They’re up against what the Durham report has said about the shortcomings and the political bias of the FBI, and this is just one more example of them not being forthcoming to the public because the public’s business ought to be public, and their’s no reason for a non-classified document to be held in secret.”

The FBI offered Comer to review the document privately in a secure location at the Capitol alongside HOCA ranking member Jamie Raskin.

Interestingly enough, leaks started to spring from; I assume, the FBI in what appeared to be an attempt to create doubt in the reliability of the CHS and the document.

Legacy Media's Reliability: When in Doubt, Discredit Valid Documents

CNN reported that the FD-1023 traces back to a trove of documents that Rudy Giuliani provided to the Department of Justice in 2020, which he obtained during his investigation in Ukraine.

It appears that CNN's aimed to discredit the FD-1023 by associating it with documents from Giuliani's investigation.

"The allegations of wrongdoing by the then-vice president, many originating from sources in Ukraine, were dubious enough that Attorney General William Barr in early 2020 directed that they be reviewed by a US attorney in Pittsburgh, in part because Barr was concerned that Giuliani’s document tranche could taint the ongoing Hunter Biden investigation overseen by the Delaware US attorney."

CNN provided the following 2020 quote from AG Bar to support their effort to discredit the document.

“We can’t take anything we received from Ukraine at face value.”

However, the full quote said much more.

"There are a lot of agendas in the Ukraine, there are a lot of cross currents, and we can’t take anything we receive from the Ukraine at face value. For that reason we had established an intake process in the field so that any information coming in about Ukraine could be carefully scrutinized by the Department and its intelligence community partners."

"That is true for all information that comes to the Department relating to the Ukraine including anything that Mr. Giuliani might provide."

At the same time that CNN is bringing up points to discredit the document, Fox News reported that a source told them the CHS was a "pre-existing" FBI source who had been used multiple times to investigate matters separate from the Biden investigation.

Also, the CHS was used by the FBI going back to the Obama administration, establishing years of credibility before the June 2020 FD-1023 was created. The CHS has been "consistently reviewed by the FBI" and has been "found to be highly credible."

Legacy media is so reliable.

Raskin's Creative Spin: Claims AG Barr Ended Investigation into Biden's $5 Million Bribe... He didn’t

On Monday, Wray produced the document for Comer and Raskin to review. Following the review, Comer and Raskin held a press conference where they each issued a statement about their review. However, Comer said that this did not fulfill the requirements of the subpoena, as it was meant to be made available for review to all HCOA members.

During the press conference, Comer confirmed that the source had a long-established relationship with the FBI that is in good standing, that he believed there were multiple documents, and that "given the severity and complexity of the allegations contained in this record Congress must investigate further."

Comer also stated that the document revealed a money-wiring practice consistent with what the HCOA found and disclosed about Romania back in May.

They revealed that during his time as Vice President, Joe Biden was involved in wire payments that occurred in foreign countries, according to statements made by Comer.

Comer highlighted Biden's public criticism of Romanian officials for corruption while he was vice president, pointing out that behind the scenes, Biden and his family benefited financially.

Comer claimed that Hunter Biden and his associates had a lucrative financial arrangement with a Romanian individual who was being investigated for corruption and later convicted. The Bidens allegedly received over $1 million from this deal, with the majority of payments made to Biden associates' accounts during Joe Biden's vice presidency. Notably, the payments stopped shortly after Joe Biden left office.

Raskin, however, had a different spin on what he had reviewed. Raskin claimed that former AG Barr and his “handpicked prosecutor” had ended an investigation into a CHS's allegation that Joe Biden had agreed to a $5 million bribe.

However, former AG Barr debunked that claim and told The Federalist, “on the contrary, it was sent to Delaware for further investigation.”

On Thursday, during an interview with Martha MacCallum on Fox News, AG Barr clarified this issue.

In 2020 there were a number of investigations occurring, and it was an election year. AG Barr had set up an intake process with the U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh to screen anything that was coming that involved these investigations. This was to minimize the proliferation of investigations and to protect the integrity of ongoing investigations.

Once the documents were screened, it was either distributed for further investigation or determined as disinformation.

The FD-1023, however, was developed by a CHS within the FBI and did not come from Giuliani. It was also determined not to be disinformation and therefore provided to the ongoing investigation in Delaware in August 2020 to be follow-up on.

Barr acknowledges that the Delaware investigation into Hunter Biden has been going on now for over 4 years and needs a resolution, whether it is to proceed or to abandon.

$10 Million to Make it Go Away

On Thursday, Wray made the document available in a secure room at the Capitol for all committee members to have an opportunity to review.

As each member came out, they stepped up the microphones in front of the cameras and shared what the document showed.

The FD-1023 contained allegations of corruption surrounding Burisma in Ukraine while Joe Biden was Vice President and Hunter Biden was on the board of Burisma.

Burisma was under investigation by Ukrainian Prosecutor General Victor Shokin for corruption. A Burisma executive told a confidential informant that the board hired Hunter to help make the problems go away. That he paid "$5 million to one Biden and $5 million for the other Biden," being Joe Biden and Hunter Biden.

The Burisma executive told the informant that these types of briberies are common practice in Ukraine, so much so that they put it in their budget. This was intended to be a type of “retainer” for the Bidens to help deal with a number of issues, including the investigation led by Shokin.

The executive stated that no direct payment was made to "the Big guy" but that he had proof of the payment to Hunter and Biden. It's worth noting the comment about "the Big guy" in the FD-1020 was made on June 30, 2020, before the Hunter Biden laptop was made public.

When asked if he was happy that Trump had won the 2016 election, the Burisma executive said no but that it was ok because it would take 10 years to find out how Biden was paid because of all the bank accounts used.

It's also worth noting that Trump was impeached because of allegations that he had abused his power by soliciting foreign interference by asking Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, and their relationship with Burisma.

Conclusion

After all of this, we have no definitive conclusion, not that I expected one. There is no question that there will be efforts to dismiss, block, and discredit anything that brings more attention to the corruption of the Biden family.

So, let's recap what we have learned.

• The CHS has a long-established relationship with the FBI going back to the Obama administration. The CHS has been paid for the work he has done with the FBI. Payment is standard practice for reliable sources in good standing.

• According to former AG Barr, the document was developed within the FBI and was not part of the document that Rudy Giuliani brought from Ukraine.

• The FD-1023 was screened by the Pitsburg U.S. Attorney, determined not to be disinformation, and sent to the Delaware U.S. Attorney as part of their investigation into Hunter Biden. It is worth noting that determining the form not to be disinformation does not mean it is true. It simply means that the origins are not from a foreign disinformation campaign

• The CHS filed the FD-1023 on June 30, 2020, just over three months before Hunter Biden’s laptop became public and four months before the election.

• It states that Hunter was placed on the board of Burisma specifically to gain access to Biden and to help with the issue of Shokin’s investigation. Biden bragged about having Special Prosecutor Shokin fired.

• Burisma allegedly paid “$5 million for one Biden and $5 million for the other Biden” as a type of retainer to deal with a number of issues, including the Shokin investigation.

• The FD-1023 reported a quote about “the big guy” from the Burisma executive three months before the quote was made public.

• FBI Dir. Wrey has confirmed that the FD-1023 is currently part of an active investigation since August 2020 involving Hunter Biden in Delaware.

The investigation in Delaware has been going on for over four years. My hope is that it’s because they are being really thorough and not stalling. But this is just another crumb in a long trail of crumbs that will hopefully lead to the truth. I just hope we can get to the truth before Biden falls again and knocks himself out.

To be continued….