The FBI did itself no favors at yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Deputy Director Paul Abbate faced a grilling from multiple senators about the bureau running amok, citing how investigations are now soaked in bias and their surveillance operations heading way off the reservation regarding its legal parameters. The FBI has been exposed for suppressing exculpatory evidence to obtain illegal FISA spy warrants on associates of Donald Trump during the 2016 election. They knew the Steele Dossier was bogus but kept that tidbit hidden to continue their unlawful wiretapping operation.
The FBI spied on a presidential campaign, folks. Let that creepiness sink in and all the horrors that come with it.
🔥🔥@HawleyMO slams FBI: Has ANYONE been held accountable for your institution deliberately lying to a FISA court to get a wiretap on an ongoing presidential campaign?
— Abigail Marone 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) June 13, 2023
...Multiple courts have uncovered extraordinary abuses perpetrated by your agency. pic.twitter.com/qiSUxxABqJ
During and after the 2020 election, we saw the FBI's interference in any investigation into the Biden family. If they’re trying to look impartial and not engaging in a cover-up, which isn’t the case, but I’m trying to play devil’s advocate here, the bureau is failing miserably. The latest eyebrow-raising move centers on the FD-1023 report, in which a confidential human source alleges that Joe Biden is part of a Ukrainian bribery scheme where Mykola Zlochevsky, co-founder of Burisma Holdings, paid Joe and Hunter Biden $5 million each. The source has been used since the Obama administration and alleges that Mr. Zlochevsky has a ledger and recordings of his phone calls with the Bidens.
Abbate’s boss, Director Chris Wray, refused to turn over the report but later relented after facing threats of contempt. Abbate’s boss claims to have “no idea” if they exist (via NY Post):
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate on Tuesday denied having any knowledge about the purported existence of audio recordings of President Biden and a Ukrainian businessman who allegedly bribed him while he was vice president.
“I have no idea if there are voice recordings or not,” Abbate told Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday during questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Monday accused the FBI of redacting information about the recordings from an informant file alleging a $5 million bribery scheme that the bureau allowed House Oversight Committee members to read last week.
Grassley alleges that there are 15 tapes of first son Hunter Biden and two of Joe Biden being bribed from 2015 and 2016 that the Ukrainian businessman said he kept as “insurance.”
Nice try, man—but the days of being patient and giving the benefit of the doubt to the bureau is over. The Russian collusion hoax destroyed that goodwill. You tried to spin what appears to be an emerging scandal out of the news cycle by going all Inception, planting fake narratives about the investigation using the same media back channels utilized to peddle the Trump-Russia collusion circus. It collapsed within days because no one believed you. Former Attorney General William Barr took a massive bite out of this manufactured narrative by rejecting the idea that he had this investigation shut down for lack of evidence. He referred it to the US attorney for Delaware.
Lordy, there are tapes! https://t.co/7SnCay5dKM
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) June 12, 2023
These people lied about the Russian collusion hoax. They expended an inordinate number of resources to protect Biden and the Democrats, and we’re supposed to believe this ‘I know nothing’ act. Please. Also, the FBI redacted the Bidens in the FD-1023 when it was turned over to Congress. The source reportedly fears for his or her life should his or her identity be revealed. That’s understandable, but what does redacting Biden’s name in these reports have anything to do with that (via Washington Examiner):
Grassley: The FBI *redacted* reference to the 17 audio recordings involving Joe and Hunter Biden when they delivered the 1023 document to congress.
— Larry O'Connor (@LarryOConnor) June 13, 2023
They REDACTED the most damning revelation in the document.
Why?
We are watching the cover-up before our very eyes.
The FBI's No. 2 leader Tuesday defended the redactions of a confidential human source form that allegedly hid claims that a Ukrainian oligarch had 17 recordings with Joe and Hunter Biden.
FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and, although he studiously refused to divulge any specific information about the FD-1023 confidential human source form alleging a potential “criminal bribery scheme” between a Ukrainian businessman and then-Vice President Joe Biden, Abbate did defend the FBI’s redactions.
"The document was redacted to protect the source," Abbate told lawmakers.
[…]
“Why did you decide to conceal the information in that revelation to the House Oversight Committee? Why did you redact all of that pertaining to the phone calls?” Blackburn asked, with Abbate largely filibustering by defending the integrity of the FBI in general terms while dodging the question.
“You chose not to reveal that the calls were there, and Sen. Grassley found it out anyway — is that accurate? You chose to redact it — yes or no?” Blackburn pressed.
"We often redact documents to protect sources and methods," Abbate said.
[…]
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) also pressed Abbate on Tuesday about the alleged bribery scheme, asking, “Is it true that the FBI has a report making those allegations.”
Abbate said, “I’m not going to comment on that, senator,” and, when asked why, added that “I’m just not going to comment on information we’ve received, investigations, or ongoing matters.”
“Do you owe an obligation to the American people to be candid about evidence of corruption by the president of the United States?” Cruz asked.
"This is an area that I’m not going to get into with you, senator," Abbate said.
“Well, I understand you don’t want to, and that’s why people are mad at the FBI because you’re stonewalling and covering up serious allegations of evidence of corruption of the president,” Cruz contended, then asking, “Does the FBI have 17 voice recordings laying out a bribery scheme?”
Abbate again refused, saying, “I’m not going to comment on any investigative matters, senator.”
We caught them in the act, didn’t we? The nation’s most preeminent law enforcement and domestic intelligence agency is carrying water for Democrats and doing dirty work to protect the political class and their interests. This coy game about not knowing about the tapes and redacting to protect the source when all they did was protect Joe Biden by leaving him off the report is why no one views this agency with credibility anymore. The impartiality, professionalism, and apolitical reputation the FBI once held has been shattered. Forget the media; the FBI has become the new enemy of the people.