Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley pressed FBI Deputy Director Paul Abate on Tuesday to release the document allegedly showing President Joe Biden was involved in a pay-for-play scheme.
Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said Monday that there are recorded phone conversations, used as an “insurance policy,” by a “foreign national” who allegedly bribed then Vice President Joe Biden and Hunter Biden. Grassley and House Oversight Chairman James Comer demanded in a May letter that the FBI hand over a document reportedly detailing an alleged bribery scheme. Comer, alongside a handful of colleagues, reviewed the unclassified document known as an FD-1023 in June in a secure facility.
Grassley said there were 17 recordings in total.
Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn was questioning Abate on the release of the document, with Abate claiming that releasing it was “question of life and death.”
“Explain,” Hawley asked in an immediate follow up.
“It is potentially a question of life and death with regard to the source for the information.”
“Ok, so now we’ve confirmed that the document exists,” Hawley said. “That’s progress because the FBI director initially denied that it exists. Why did he do that?” (RELATED: ‘Wow!: FBI Official Stuns Hawley When He Admits Bureau ‘Unintentionally’ Spied On ‘278,000’ Americans)
“We have already and previously acknowledged the existence of the documents,” Abate testified.
“Yeah, after you first denied it. Now one member of this committee read it, right the FBI director, let’s just get the record straight, the FBI director initially said it doesn’t exist, then Sen. Grassley said ‘I’ve read it,’ then he said ‘Oh, okay well gotcha I guess it does exist,’ now you’re going back and forth with members of this committee what’s in it, why don’t you just release it? Is it classified?”
“The document is not classified,” Abate testified.
“Will you commit to releasing it?” Hawley pressed.
“Senator, we’ll take that back and we will work with you and this committee–”
“How about just a ‘yes’ or ‘no’? Will you commit to releasing this unclassified document that alleges that the president of the United States — the president of the United States has taken $5 million or more in bribes from a foreign nation?”
“The document has already been released pursuant to a subpoena to the House Oversight Committee–”
“Has it been released to this committee?” Hawley interjected.
“We will work with this committee within the parameters that are established to meet the request,” Abate testified.
“Will you release the document to the public? It’s unclassified, don’t you think the American people have a right to see it?” Hawley responded.
“Senator, the document, as you know, contains sensitive information that has bearing on the life of the source of the information, potentially.”
“You can redact the sources’ name. We do this all the time,” Hawley said.
“In some instances, Senator, and I know you know this, that is not sufficient to protect people,” Abate testified, before moving onto other topics.