Again this shows the republicans in congress don’t care about national security, about law enforcement, intelligence assets, or even justice. Instead they want power and to destroy their enemy at any cost. They are teens playing a video game holding nothing back. They can’t see past their petty trolling and snarky insinuations. Hugs
‘We have repeatedly explained to Congress, in correspondence and in briefings, how critical it is to keep this source information confidential,’ the FBI tells The Messenger
Published 07/21/23 02:08 PM ET|Updated 07/21/23 03:45 PM ET
Stephen Neukam
The FBI repeatedly warned lawmakers not to share the contents of a sensitive document related to a Department of Justice investigation of Hunter Biden, The Messenger has learned.
In spite of those warnings, congressional Republicans have made the document a central focus of their investigation of President Joe Biden and his son. One senior Senate Republican on Thursday publicly released a semi-redacted version of the FBI report, which contains an informant’s allegations of bribery against the Bidens.
FBI officials cautioned lawmakers on several occasions about the dangers that releasing the document could pose to confidential informants and others, according to materials obtained by The Messenger.
“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 the Democratic ranking member and chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who has been scrutinizing the Biden family.
“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, which came one day after lawmakers on the Oversight Committee were permitted to view the document in a secured room.
Other documents obtained by The Messenger show that the FBI’s warnings not to release the confidential information extended back to May — before Comer and others were allowed to view the FBI form.
The FBI told lawmakers that protecting the secrecy of the FBI form is “critical” to the “physical safety” of the source and others, according to a May 30 letter sent to Comer.
The letter cited a May 22 meeting the FBI had with Oversight Committee staff, in which “the Deputy Assistant Director expressed the FBI’s concern 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.”
The FBI document in question, called a FD-1023 form — which is used by FBI agents to record unverified raw information from informants — has been at the center of Comer’s committee’s investigation of the Bidens. The FBI form contains allegations that Hunter Biden and another Biden family member received money from a Ukrainian energy firm in exchange for foreign policy decisions.
Lawmakers viewed the document behind closed doors last month, before Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, released the document to the public on Thursday. Grassley said he obtained the document through a Justice Department whistleblower.
Members of Congress were also provided with a warning that the information contained in the document “should be treated confidentially,” before they viewed the form on June 8, saying the agency “expressly does not consent” to the release of the material.
The FBI also raised concerns that lawmakers were taking notes in the meeting, which was prohibited, according to the letter.
The document released by Grassley on Thursday was even less redacted than the one viewed by lawmakers, a Democratic source familiar with the form told The Messenger. The material released by the Republican senator revealed that Mykola Zlochevsky, the owner of Burisma, the Ukrainian energy firm named in the alleged bribery scheme, was the source of the information.
Asked for comment, the FBI told The Messenger on Friday that throughout the agency’s dealings with Congress over GOP committee investigations of Biden family matters, the “release of the 1023 – at a minimum – unnecessarily risks the safety of a confidential source.”
“We have repeatedly explained to Congress, in correspondence and in briefings, how critical it is to keep this source information confidential,” the FBI statement said, adding that “safeguards the FBI placed on the production of this information are necessary to protect the safety of confidential sources and the integrity of sensitive investigations.”
Grassley’s office on Friday defended the GOP senator’s public release of the sensitive FBI form, noting that the version released by Grassley included redactions and that the actual FBI document was marked “unclassified”
“Democrats and the media sought to link the FD-1023 to the Bidens’ activity in Ukraine long before this document became public, citing information that only the FBI and DOJ could have known,” a Grassley spokesperson said in a statement issued to The Messenger. “Those public statements exposed the source to those he or she communicated with. The FBI can’t cite risks to sources while thwarting congressional oversight in one breath and leak selective information to the news media in another.”
A spokesperson for Comer struck a similar note, saying criticism from the FBI was “a last-ditch effor… to thwart legitimate congressional oversight.”
Another letter obtained by The Messenger, sent from the agency to Comer on May 10, explained the “great risk to themselves and their loved ones” that confidential sources take on when providing information to the bureau.
“Significant harm to investigative work—and to the program as a whole—could result from dissemination of FD-1023s or other similar documents,” the letter said.
Scottie's Playtime 
Only a question of time before a wing of the Republican Party starts campaigning that the official government view should be the world is flat; solely on the ground that President Biden says it is round.
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Hello Roger. Yes, and what is even sadder is their followers will believe them. Hugs
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Agreed Scottie. They have this ridiculous knee-jerk reaction. Mind you over here I’ve witnessed in sections of my political home of The Left.
One shouldn’t say this…but sometimes people are stoopid!! (In July & August I go into my summer induced grouchy mood)
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Hasn’t anyone noticed by now that the Repukes are ONLY out for themselves? They will do or say WHATEVER is necessary to maintain control … whether it’s true, fake, or verboten.
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Hey Nan, very true. Norms, decency, fairness, nothing matters to them in the pursuit of power. And what do they do with that power, they rule. Republicans do not want to be your representatives, they demand to be your rulers. They will tell you how to live while they give everything of value to their wealthy patrons. Hugs
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