Jim Jordan demanded Wednesday that the FBI release information related to an alleged 2020 effort by the intelligence community to obstruct Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson’s early investigation into Hunter Biden.
The request follows a letter earlier this month from Chairman Jordan, who heads the House Judiciary Committee, to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, where he asked which agency within the intelligence community nominated the information that was ultimately used in a defensive briefing to Grassley and Johnson.
The senators say the media leak about that briefing hampered their investigation into Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings by creating the impression that they were spreading Russian disinformation.
In response, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence disclosed to the committee the agency from which the information came, but has so far declined to classify it.
Now Jordan wants that information released to better understand how the intelligence community obstructed the senators’ legitimate congressional investigation into this politically sensitive topic.
“However, ODNI has twice refused to release this information, hampering Congress’ ability to use the information to inform potential legislative reforms,” Jordan wrote. “Disclosing the identity of the nominating agency would neither reveal intelligence sources and methods nor harm national security.”
He argues that the decision to keep the information secret is an attempt to limit oversight and prevent necessary reforms.
Grassley and Johnson first opened an investigation into Hunter Biden’s foreign activities in 2019.
The following August, shortly before the 2020 election, Democratic leaders in Congress raised concerns with FBI Director Christopher Wray that the pair of senators were spreading Russian disinformation stemming from a “coordinated campaign of foreign interference” that aimed to “white disinformation to wash and strengthen’ through conference activities. They requested a defensive briefing on the Kremlin’s alleged efforts.
The two senators stand firm denied the characterization by their colleagues. “We have not sought, relied on, or publicly released anything that could even remotely be considered disinformation,” Grassley and Johnson wrote to their colleagues.
“Rather than furthering Russian disinformation, our investigation is focused on uncovering the facts about what did and did not take place so we can put these cases to rest.”
The next day the FBI came gave the defensive briefing to the pair of senators who reportedly provided little new information regarding their investigation into Hunter Biden. However, when the existence of the briefing was leaked, the senators say it hampered their investigation.
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