On Thursday, the infamous FD-1023 form that has bolstered allegations of bribery against Joe Biden finally saw the light of day. Sen. Chuck Grassley released the document, which included direct quotes from Ukrainian oligarchs and was produced by a long-trusted FBI confidential human source.
As RedState reported, some of the quotes directly implicate the Bidens in a scheme to stop Viktor Shokin, the then-prosecutor who was investigating Burisma. Joe Biden famously bragged on video about withholding aid from Ukraine to ensure Shokin was fired.
The revelations are far more extensive than described above, so be sure to click here for the full details.
So how has the White House decided to respond to this? The comms shop has settled on the claim that these allegations are “long-debunked.” De-bunked by who, you might be asking? That’s a really good question. Still, the press is doing its part, first blacking out the story completely and then showing up only to repeat the White House’s denials.
Here are just two examples.
Here's the entirety of CNN & MSNBC's coverage of new, hard evidence implicating the president in a criminal bribery scheme
"The White House sharply criticized Republicans for pushing long-debunked claims.” pic.twitter.com/x6bNbb6ZbO
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 21, 2023
Sen. Chuck Grassley released a confidential FBI informant’s unverified claim that the Biden family in 2016 “coerced” a Ukrainian oligarch to pay them $10 million. The White House has denied the allegation, saying it has been investigated and "debunked." https://t.co/yeMKDhHAKe
— ABC News (@ABC) July 21, 2023
In a vacuum, one extremely naive person might suppose that the press is just being cautious. After all, the claims in the FD-1023 form would need to be further corroborated. We all know that’s nonsense, though. How do we know? Because when the shoe was on the other foot, every major press outlet was more than happy to spread the Steele dossier despite it being far less credible.
Here’s a side-by-side of how CNN handled the two stories.
CNN’s first report on the Steele dossier vs its first report about the FD-1023 document. Can you spot the difference? pic.twitter.com/JF9hhpLNso
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) July 21, 2023
In one situation, you have a dossier sourced to a political campaign passed along to the FBI through partisan backchannels. In another situation, you have an officially sourced FD-1023 produced by a highly-credible confidential human source the FBI had used in multiple investigations for over a decade. Yet, it’s the former that received years of unquestioned coverage while the latter is immediately dismissed as “unverified.” How very convenient.
Returning to the notion that the claims in the FD-1023, including the direct quotes provided, have been “debunked,” there is no evidence of that at all. In fact, there’s no evidence that the FBI ever even really pursued the issue. By all available information, the federal government buried the FD-1023 and didn’t follow up on anything related to it.
By contrast, the FBI and DOJ doggedly pursued the Steele dossier, ordering surveillance warrants and continuing to use it as a basis for an investigation even after it was known to contain false information and that it was sourced by the Hillary Clinton campaign. But when it comes to an actual FD-1023 with direct quotes that match up with Hunter Biden’s relationship with Burisma and the firing of Shokin, it’s treated as unworthy of serious investigation. The double standard is stark.
Meanwhile, after regurgitating the White House’s denial, the press returned to blacking out the story.
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) July 21, 2023
The question of whether this would be a major story if it involved Donald Trump is rhetorical at this point. We all know the answer to that. This wouldn’t just be a major story; it’d be the basis for an impeachment and would haunt the political sphere for years. There’s no question the Bidens are being openly protected, both by the government and by the media. Still, this story isn’t going away.
