Republicans have brought public attention to the contents of a sensitive document related to the DOJ's investigation of Hunter Biden despite the FBI warning them not to do so, The Messenger exclusively reported.
On Thursday, GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley released what was described as a "bombshell" FBI file that he said showed the Ukrainian owner of the natural gas company Burisma Holdings telling a government informant that he was “coerced” into paying a $10 million bribe to President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
The file, Grassley said, shows Mykola Zlochevsky telling the informant that “it cost 5 [million] to pay one Biden, and 5 [million] to another Biden."
"Zlochevsky made some comment that although Hunter Biden ‘was stupid, and his (Zlochevsky’s) dog was smarter,’ Zlochevsky needed to keep Hunter Biden (on Burisma’s board) ‘so everything will be okay,’” the June 2020 document says.
The Messenger says it has learned that before the file was released, FBI officials cautioned lawmakers "on several occasions" that releasing the document could pose a threat to confidential informants and others.
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“We have repeatedly explained to you, in correspondence and in briefings, how critical it is to keep this information confidential,” the FBI said in a June 9 letter, obtained by The Messenger, to Rep. James Comer (R-KY).
“We are concerned that Members disregarded the Committee’s agreement that information from the document should not be further disclosed," the FBI said in the letter.
In the letter, the FBI went on to express its worry over "the chilling effect that could flow from the wide dissemination of investigative files."
“As you know, confidential sources are critical to the FBI’s ability to build cases, including those against violent gangs, drug cartels, and terrorists,” the letter said. It explained that “closely protecting” information about the source could “prevent chilling of FBI’s recruitment of sources and their candor in reporting, and also to protect sources and individuals associated with them from being physically harmed or even killed.”
Other warnings from the FBI about sharing the file date back to May.
Read the full report over at The Messenger.