By Spencer Brown | Townhall.com
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
The plot of the Biden family’s shady business dealings continues to thicken, one that Townhall has covered extensively. Now, there’s even more information about the alleged bribery pay-for-action ploy that VP Biden profited off of to, supposedly, the tune of $5 million.
In another twist, it turns out the foreign national with whom Joe Biden allegedly took bribe money from may be an asset of Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR).
According to exclusive reporting from our sister site RedState, “Burisma Holdings founder Mykola Zlochevsky, who allegedly paid a total of $10 million in bribes to Joe and Hunter Biden in 2015 and 2016 in exchange for then-Vice President Joe Biden’s assistance in getting Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin fired, is believed to be an asset of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) by the United States intelligence community, according to a national security source speaking to RedState on condition of anonymity.”
As our colleague Jen Van Laar reported, this source explained that the U.S. intel community has “a high degree of confidence in their assessment of Zlochevsky as SVR.”
What’s more, RedState’s source explained that this “is not a new assessment” and “the intelligence community under Obama knew this, and Obama was briefed on it.”
The Burisma executive allegedly at the center of the Biden bribery scheme was hardly a stranger to the energy sector, as RedState reminded:
In addition to forming Burisma, Zlochevsky was Ukraine’s Ecology and National Resources Minister from July 2010 through April 2012, and Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council from April 2012 through February 2014. He appointed Hunter Biden to the Burisma board in April 2014, and later that month his assets in the UK were seized by the Serious Fraud Office as part of a corruption investigation into Ukraine’s former President Viktor Yanukovich.
This latest twist follows a Monday evening speech from Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on the Senate floor, one in which he explained that the FBI’s documentation of allegations that then-Vice President Joe Biden was engaged in a criminal bribery scheme with a foreign national included a claim that the foreign national taped phone calls with Joe Biden as an “insurance policy.”
There are still a lot of “ifs” that have yet to be verified from the mounting allegations against the now-President of the United States. If he was engaged in a bribery scheme? That’s a strong case for impeachment. If the foreign national who paid him off was a literal Russian asset? That’s a devastatingly inconvenient truth for Biden’s party that has spent years saying the Trump admin — and really any Republican — was compromised by Russia.
As more disclosures and revelations come to light, there’s only more evidence of the alleged Biden bribery scheme. The fact that the FBI has been so cagey about even its own 1023 form documenting the allegations is all the indication those charged with oversight and accountability needed to keep digging.
Hopefully, in time, the phone call recordings supposedly reported to the FBI will become available to investigators and even more will be confirmed. For now, it sure doesn’t look good, especially because former President Trump was smeared as an asset (for years) who supposedly colluded with Russia to “steal” the 2016 election based on fewer and less authoritative sources — ones primarily paid for by his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
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'Insurance Policy': Grassley Says Burisma Exec Taped Phone Calls With Then-VP Biden
By Spencer Brown | Townhall.com
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
Grassley criticized the Biden administration — specifically the FBI and its director Christopher Wray — for "playing games with the American people by hiding" the 1023 form "from Congress and the American people" by refusing to comply with a subpoena issued by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY).
"Director Wray was going to be held in contempt for refusing to produce the 1023 that I told Chairman Comer about," Grassley reminded. "Instead of contempt, the FBI committed to showing the 1023 and related documents" to the Committee.
Thanking Comer for "his cooperation with me" and for "how he's pursued this issue," Grassley praised his colleague in the House for ensuring Congress — and the Americans they represent — "know a heck of a lot more now."
Grassley also lamented how the 1023 shown to Members of Congress has been treated as some sort of classified document when it is not a sensitive report. "Why shouldn't the whole country know?" Grassley asked rhetorically.
Instead, the longtime Iowa senator explained based on conversations with House members who reviewed it, the 1023 is "filled with redactions now" but the version of the document Comer and Grassley reviewed "had maybe two or three half-inch redactions" rather than the "whole sentences" that were redacted before Oversight Committee members viewed the report. "So, Director Wray placed redactions on a document that's already unclassified," Grassley emphasized. "More than that, the FBI made Congress review a redacted unclassified document in a classified facility."
"That goes to show you that the disrespect that the FBI has for Congress," Grassley continued. "Accordingly, Congress still lacks a full and complete picture with respect to what that document really says — that's why it's important that the document be made public without unnecessary redactions for the American public to see."
Then, Grassley dropped a significant revelation: The 1023 shown to the House Oversight Committee redacted a portion stating "that the foreign national who allegedly bribed Joe and Hunter Biden allegedly has audio recordings of his conversation with them."
Well, that's something. Allegedly, of course.
Grassley continued, revealing that the foreign national — an executive with Ukrainian energy company Burisma according to lawmakers who've viewed the 1023 — has "17 such recordings."
"According to the 1023, the foreign national possesses 15 audio recordings between him and Hunter Biden," Grassley explained. "According to the 1023, the foreign national possesses two audio recordings of phone calls between him and then-Vice President Joe Biden."
Grassley said the "recordings were allegedly kept as a sort of insurance policy for the foreign national" in the event he got "into a tight spot."
"Getting a full and complete 1023 is critical for the American people to know and understand the true nature of the document and to hold the Justice Department and the FBI accountable," Grassley said after dropping the new information about what the 1023 contains regarding evidence to back up allegations that Biden was engaged in a bribery scheme. "It's also important for asserting constitutional congressional oversight powers against an out-of-control executive branch," Grassley added.
"Remember, Congress has received 1023s in the past and they've been made public," the Iowa Republican reminded. "So asking for this 1023 to be turned over to the American people to read is not an unusual thing."
