{"id":584317,"date":"2023-07-26T00:05:27","date_gmt":"2023-07-25T21:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/grassley-faces-criticism-over-release-of-fbi-document\/"},"modified":"2023-07-26T00:05:27","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T21:05:27","slug":"grassley-faces-criticism-over-release-of-fbi-document","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/grassley-faces-criticism-over-release-of-fbi-document\/","title":{"rendered":"#Grassley faces criticism over release of FBI document"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/06\/grassleychuck_061323gn01_w.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is in the political spotlight as Democrats and critics attack him for releasing a lightly-redacted document detailing unfounded allegations of Biden family corruption and bribery and conservatives praise his move in the name of transparency.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The eight-term senator has had a storied career, particularly on investigative matters, where he has long been considered a champion of whistleblower protections. \u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>But critics say his decision late last week to release the tip to the FBI, memorialized in an FD-1023 form, put a chink in that armor. The FBI admonished Grassley and other senators for releasing the form, saying it \u201crisks the safety\u201d of the confidential source, who claims the Bidens \u201cpushed\u201d a Ukrainian oligarch to pay them $10 million.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would never have advised him to do that,\u201d said Kris Kolesnik, who spent 19 years as Grassley\u2019s senior counselor and director of investigations but has\u00a0come out as a critic\u00a0against his work in recent years.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is like a new guy,\u201d Kolesnik continued, noting that Grassley, 89, spearheaded the oversight efforts against the Reagan administration. \u201cWe left him quite an oversight legacy, and he\u2019s put all that in jeopardy. Between back then and now, it\u2019s like night and day.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to the form released by Grassley and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), the FBI\u2019s informant \u2014 known as a CHS, or confidential human source \u2014 met in 2016 with Mykola Zlochevsky, the CEO of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, who claimed that he made a pair of $5 million payments to the Bidens. He did not specify who was on the receiving end of those alleged bribes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The form relays information on the conversation to an FBI agent but does not assess the veracity of the tip.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The informant also claimed that Zlochevsky has 17 audiotapes, including two with then-Vice President Biden and the remaining 15 with Hunter Biden, though a number of Republicans have questioned whether they even exist.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>There has not been any evidence linking President Biden to the payments or Hunter Biden\u2019s foreign work, and the White House has strongly denied any improper action.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Grassley said on Thursday that the move was made for the sake of transparency and that Americans \u201ccan now read this document for themselves, without the filter of politicians or bureaucrats.\u201d His office added that it was obtained via legal avenues and downplayed claims by the FBI that the safety of the CHS could be at risk.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But that has in no way calmed the waters as Democrats increase their attacks over what they view as unsubstantiated claims that were already dismissed in full by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Democratic staff on the House Oversight Committee wrote in a memo to House Democrats on Monday that Grassley and Comer\u2019s actions were \u201cin brazen disregard\u201d of the safety of FBI sources and \u201cthe integrity of its investigations.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cContrary to Republican messaging, the form provides no new or additional support for their corruption allegations against the President or Hunter Biden,\u201d the memo says. \u201cInstead, its release merely seeks to breathe new life into years-old conspiracy theories, initially peddled by Rudy Giuliani, that have been thoroughly debunked.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Grassley\u2019s work pertaining to whistleblower protections has long legs that extend well into that universe today. Empower Oversight, an organization of lawyers that includes a number of former Grassley investigatory staffers, has\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/07\/23\/us\/politics\/whistle-blower-biden.html\">become a key group<\/a>\u00a0on this front as it helps whistleblowers navigate the treacherous waters to legally report information to Congress lawfully.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>However, his recent work has come under the microscope as it has become increasingly politicized. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe is transgressing all of the oversight principles we learned back in the day, the No. 1 principle of which is \u2018Stay the hell away from politics,\u2019\u201d Kolesnik said. \u201cAnd he\u2019s broken that repeatedly.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, a spokesperson for the senator took issue with Kolesnik\u2019s claims and said that Grassley \u201ccalls the shots on his investigation\u201d and that \u201canyone who\u2019s ever worked for\u201d him would know this.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cHe maintains an impeccable reputation for shining a light on facts that the bureaucracy would prefer to keep hidden,\u201d said Taylor Foy, a Grassley spokesman. \u201cGrassley\u2019s Biden investigation stems from government employees who are concerned that politics has infected the nation\u2019s premier law enforcement agencies. Ignoring these claims would be a failure of Sen. Grassley\u2019s constitutional oversight responsibility.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShying away from legitimate oversight because of fear of the political implications, as Mr. Kolesnik suggests, is exactly the type of cowardice that results in a runaway, unaccountable bureaucracy,\u201d Foy continued. \u201cThat\u2019s no legacy anyone who values oversight should pursue, and Mr. Kolesnik should know better.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Supporters of the longtime Iowa senator also maintain that he did nothing nefarious by releasing the document. They say that his track record should speak for itself and that if he is harping on a subject, there\u2019s a good reason.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr6_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cPeople willing to analyze his oversight history know that when he says something, you should pay attention because he\u2019s not one to shoot from the hip,\u201d said Michael Zona, a former Grassley staffer and a GOP strategist,\u00a0adding that the senator \u201cusually knows a lot more than what he says.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPay attention to what he\u2019s saying or doing because he\u2019s probably ahead of the curve,\u201d Zona added.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Politically, Grassley is under little pressure to deviate from his current investigatory course. He won his eighth term last fall by a 12-point margin over Democrat Mike Franken.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr7_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Republicans in his home state believe that his legacy is secure no matter what comes of the current push into the finances and actions of the Biden family. They also say that <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> of the document did not make much of a dent with Iowans in recent days as their focus is on the ongoing special legislative session on abortion in Des Moines and the parade of 2024 Republican presidential candidates to all corners of the state.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo me, I read this and I\u2019m like, \u2018This is classic Chuck Grassley,\u2019\u201d said Craig Robinson, a longtime Iowa-based GOP political strategist. \u201cThis is what he does. I don\u2019t view any of this as him being hyper partisan in any way. This is on message for who he\u2019s been as a United States senator for decades.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2023 Nexstar <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Media<\/a> Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more News articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/senate\/4119251-grassley-faces-criticism-over-release-of-fbi-document\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is in the political spotlight as Democrats and critics attack him for releasing a lightly-redacted document detailing unfounded allegations of Biden family corruption and bribery and conservatives praise his move in the name of transparency.\u00a0 The eight-term senator has had a storied career, particularly on investigative matters, where he has long&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":584318,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/06\/grassleychuck_061323gn01_w.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[139252,134343,71443,73798,10574,134661,73014,70867],"class_list":["post-584317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-business-economy","tag-campaign","tag-chuck-grassley","tag-defense","tag-education","tag-energy-environment","tag-health-care","tag-hunter-biden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}