FBI Director Christopher Wray narrowly avoided being held in contempt of Congress after weeks of concealing a document from it, containing a trusted informant’s allegation that then-Vice President Biden took a $5 million bribe from a Ukrainian oligarch. This saga touches on a trio of seeming scandals. The first long known concerns the Biden family’s likely criminal, corrupting, national security-imperiling influence peddling. 

The GOP-led House Oversight Committee has shown the Bidens and associates created a web of over 20 companies — most formed during Joe’s vice presidency — through which they received over $10 million from foreign nationals’ companies, from China to Romania. That money flowed to Bidens many with no relevant skills or experience and at times of that evidence, they did any work. 

Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson previously detailed dubious Biden family dealings with Russians, Kazakhs and Ukrainians. Ukraine is where the alleged Biden bribe originated and where son Hunter served on the board of corruption wait an energy company Burisma, while Biden managed U.S. foreign policy there. The Biden’s monetizing of Joe’s office, including in Ukraine, and its apparent efforts to disguise the associated transactions, dovetail with the bribery allegation.

“After foreign companies sent money to business associates’ companies, the House Oversight Committee has reported the Biden family received incremental payments over time to different bank accounts. These complicated financial transactions appear to conceal the source of the funds and reduce the conspicuousness of the total amounts made into the Biden bank accounts. Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer says the FBI’s form FD 1023 memorializing the Biden bribe allegation, suggest the then-VP “asked that the bribe money be sent through shell companies and various banks to launder it to where no one would know about it. Comer says FBI officials confirm the allegation has not been disproven and stated several times the information contained within it is currently being used in an ongoing investigation. The source of the allegation is a longtime FBI informant reportedly highly credible who the FBI has seen fit to pay $200,000+ for his work. The specifics of the allegation and logic to it further speak to its veracity or at least plausibility. 

One Republican Oversight Committee member declared after reviewing the 1023 that there’s no doubt in my mind that Joe Biden is guilty of bribery 100%. Democrat efforts to dismiss the claim have been convincingly debunked. Even if no bribe occurred, Americans must ask what money did the Biden’s make, from whom, for what and when? Did it flow directly or indirectly to Joe? What did he know? And when did he know about it? Meanwhile, where was foreign interference-obsessed law enforcement in all this? That’s the second potential scandal here, that it was protecting the Biden’s and turning a blind eye to their dubious dealings. This is what drove Chairman Comer and Senator Grassley to pursue the 1023 in the first place. In recent years, whistleblowers came to Grassley claiming hyper-politicization of the FBI and DOJ. Grassley wrote a letter to the agencies in July 2022, covering some of these disclosures, including ones indicating the agencies had evidence of Hunter Biden’s criminal financial activity, and sat on it, opening and assessment used to claim the derogatory information was disinformation, and then burying it in a restricted access subfile. Whistleblowers also made Grassley and Comer aware of the existence of the 1023. Grassley recently linked the two disclosures asking, “Did the FBI tried to improperly use the August 2020 assessment to shut down the 1023 reporting by falsely labeling it disinformation?” Grassley himself may have been targeted during that period. Democrats in the FBI seemingly coordinated to discredit his probe of the Biden family as being infected by, what else but, foreign disinformation. The apparent protection of the Biden family during and after the 2020 election raises a critical question. What do these agencies know about the Biden’s dealings? When did it learn it and what has it done about it? Chairman Comer says we don’t know how many form 1023s are pertaining to Biden bribery. 

The third potential scandal is the FBI seeming cover up of its covering for the Bidens. Why exactly did it go through so much trouble to hide the 1023 from Congress. It obstructed oversight on a number of ways, slowly replying to the subpoena for the 1023, giving tangential  briefings, refusing at one point to even confirm the documents existence, calling for investigators to narrow the search and more, before finally relenting when Director Wray faced contempt proceedings. 

The pattern of obstruction dates back to Russia gate. Republicans seek documents they believe illustrate Deep State corruption, Deep State cries state secrets and sources and methods. Ultimately, Republican concerns proved right after the documents appear. The deep state’s real concern seems to be protecting itself by hiding its malfeasance. With this 1023 The FBI went with the sources and methods excuse, despite Republican assurances they’d be happy to receive the document in a form that protects the source. One oversight committee member tweeted, “the FBI is afraid their informants will be killed if unmasked based on the info he has brought forward about the Biden family.” 

This was remarkable on two levels. First, could the FBI really not protect the informant’s identity? Does it still stand by this position, or was it more concerned about protecting Biden or hiding its protection of Biden? If the FBI really believes the informant could be killed, what does that say about the bribe allegation? And who does the FBI fear? Director Wray may not have been held in contempt, but this trio of apparent scandals reflects our leader’s contempt for us.