Republican Senator Chuck Grassley has released a redacted FBI document containing unverified allegations that President Joe Biden and his son Hunter received bribes from a Ukrainian energy firm. The memo, a June 2020 internal report, outlines claims from a foreign informant that Burisma made two $5m payments to the Bidens in exchange for help removing Ukraine's prosecutor general.
The informant told the FBI he learned of the payments during conversations with Burisma executives in 2015 or 2016, but admitted he could not vouch for the accuracy of the information. The FBI has warned that public release of the document risks exposing a confidential source and compromising intelligence-gathering methods.
Senior Republicans have acknowledged the allegations remain unverified, and the White House dismissed them as “debunked for years”. The document mirrors claims previously pushed by Rudy Giuliani, which led to Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial in 2019.
Grassley said he obtained the lightly redacted memo from a justice department whistleblower and released it in the public interest. He tweeted the copy on Thursday, urging voters to make up their own minds “without the filter of politicians or bureaucrats”.
The move is highly unusual and may further strain relations between congressional Republicans and the Biden administration. FBI Director Chris Wray had previously warned lawmakers that public release would jeopardise intelligence sources.
