Rep. Greene After Reviewing FBI Document Alleging Biden Bribery Scheme: ‘Nothing Short of Deeply Troubling’

Rep. Greene After Reviewing FBI Document Alleging Biden Bribery Scheme: ‘Nothing Short of Deeply Troubling’
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) at the Protect Children's Innocence press event outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Sept. 20, 2022. (Terri Wu/The Epoch Times)
Tom Ozimek
6/8/2023
Updated:
6/9/2023
0:00

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said Thursday that she had reviewed the FBI’s unclassified document allegedly implicating President Joe Biden in a bribery scheme while disclosing what she believes voters should know about it.

“I just read the FBI’s FD-1023 form implicating Joe Biden in a political bribery pay-to-play scheme. Here’s what the American people deserve to know,” Greene said in a post on Twitter.

Greene said in an accompanying video that she had reviewed the document—an FD-1023 form—at the government’s Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility and that she believes the document is “very credible.”

‘Nothing Short of Deeply Troubling’

A whistleblower has alleged in the unclassified document that Joe Biden, while he was vice president, engaged in a $5 million bribery scheme with a foreign national in exchange for certain actions.

Greene, who called the allegations “nothing short of deeply troubling,” said that the whistleblower is a paid informant by the FBI and the matter is unrelated to allegations brought forward by former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani in 2020.

Giuliani previously alleged that Biden pressured Ukrainian officials to fire top prosecutor Viktor Shokin by withholding millions in guaranteed loans because he was planning to investigate Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy company that employed his son, Hunter Biden.

Shokin was fired in April 2016, amid long-standing charges of corruption. About a month prior to his dismissal, Biden threatened to cut off $1 billion in guaranteed loans to Ukraine unless Shokin was fired.

“I looked at them and said: I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,” Biden recounted at the Council on Foreign Relations in 2018. “Well, son of a [expletive], he got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.”
Shokin told a European court in a sworn affidavit that he was removed because he refused to drop the investigation into Burisma.
Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin holds a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 2, 2015. (Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images)
Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin holds a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov. 2, 2015. (Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images)

‘Definitely Illegal’

Greene said that the latest allegations in the FBI document are “extremely credible” given that the whistleblower was a paid FBI informant.

Citing the FBI document, Greene said the whistleblower indicated that Burisma Holdings had hired Hunter Biden to serve on its board “to make the problems go away” with Shokin’s planned investigation.

The informant, who was an adviser to Burisma, advised the company to hire lawyers and try to resolve any potential issues arising from Shokin’s probe rather than hire Hunter Biden as a way of seeking leverage.

“He was trying to tell them to do the right thing,” Greene said.

Greene continued by saying that the informant declared in the form that he had “paid $5 million to one Biden and he paid $5 million to another Biden and it was all a bribery to get Shokin fired and end the investigation into Burisma.”

Greene said that the whistleblower said that bribes are standard fare in doing business and other matters involving officials in Ukraine.

“Many businesses they take that into account, they put it in their budgets,” she said, adding that it wouldn’t be unusual for a company in Ukraine “to consider hiring Hunter Biden on the board in order to ’make their problems go away,'” which in this case was prosecutor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma.

“This was definitely illegal for the vice president of the United States and their family members,” Greene alleged.

The president on Thursday called the allegations “malarkey” while Hunter Biden earlier denied any wrongdoing in connection with Burisma.

Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden attend the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, on April 10, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden attend the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, on April 10, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

‘The Big Guy’

Citing the document, Greene said that the whistleblower said that the “owner of Burisma” said it would take 10 years for the public to find out about the payments made to the Bidens “because of how many bank accounts there were,” presumably referring to ones to which alleged corrupt money transfers were made.

The whistleblower “said that at the time, there were no direct payments made to ‘The Big Guy,” Greene continued, referring to the elder Biden.

However, as time went on and the situation around Shokin’s planned probe became more heated, the Burisma owner said that he had evidence of payments made to both Bidens, Greene said, citing the whistleblower.

“He told the informant that he has two pieces of evidence showing proof of payment to Hunter and, specifically, Joe Biden,” Greene said.

“This owner of Burisma kept a record, especially of the bribes,” she said, explaining that this is a way to enforce whatever actions are promised in exchange for the bribes.

The allegations in the FBI form are “shocking,” Greene concluded, vowing to continue investigating the matter.

She said she hopes the FBI will continue to cooperate with lawmakers in their probe, but she rebuked the agency for not releasing the unclassified information to the public.

FBI Director Christopher Wray has confirmed that the file exists, and after initially refusing to release it to the entire Republican-led House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, he has since released it to the panel.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies at a hearing in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee in Congress in Washington on Jan. 29, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies at a hearing in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee in Congress in Washington on Jan. 29, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

‘Bunch of Malarkey’

At a joint press conference Thursday with the Prime Minister of Britain, a reporter asked Biden about the bribery allegations.
“Congresswoman Nancy Mace says there’s damning evidence in an FBI file that you sold out the country. Do you have a response?” the reporter asked.

“Where’s the money?” Biden replied, adding, “I’m joking. It’s a bunch of malarkey.”

Earlier, Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who viewed the FBI document on June 5, said that document was based on “allegations that went nowhere.”

The White House has downplayed the panel’s investigation as a “silly charade” aimed at hurting Biden’s reputation ahead of the 2024 elections.

The FBI told The Epoch Times in response to a previous inquiry that the agency has been cooperating with the Oversight Committee’s probe while defending not releasing the document to the public.

“The FBI has continually demonstrated its commitment to accommodate the committee’s request, including by producing the document in a reading room at the U.S. Capitol,” a spokesperson said.

“This commonsense safeguard is often employed in response to congressional requests and in court proceedings to protect important concerns, such as the physical safety of sources and the integrity of investigations,” the agency added.

Following the closed-door briefing with Wray, Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) issued a statement saying that FBI officials confirmed that the “unclassified, FBI-generated record has not been disproven.”

Comer said that information comes from a “trusted, highly credible” human informant who has cooperated with the FBI for years.

“These are facts and no amount of spin, and frankly lies, from the White House or Congressional Democrats can change this information,” he added.

Joseph Lord and Jackson Richman contributed to this report.