Biden denies Burisma bribery scheme, dismisses audio tapes evidence
Poll shows most Americans believe Biden received payments from foreign nationals to influence Washington's policy
U.S. President Joe Biden continues to dismiss Republican accusations of bribery against him and his family. After calling such allegations “a bunch of malarkey” last week, the president appeared amused when he asked about new audio evidence in the Burisma scheme on Tuesday.
“Are there tapes that you accepted bribes, President Biden? Is that true?” a New York Post reporter asked the president at the White House.
Biden turned to the reporter with a smile on his face and walked away without providing any comment.
Congressional Republicans claimed to have proof showing that Biden and his son Hunter each received $5 million from a Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings in 2015 and 2016, when he served as vice president in the Obama administration.
The document was reportedly seen by GOP House Oversight Committee members after it was subpoenaed by the FBI. The report (FD-1023) – dated June 30, 2020 – allegedly reveals that Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky told an FBI confidential source that he paid the Bidens to shake off a corruption investigation. It details the FBI’s interviews with the "highly credible" source, according to Fox News, over the course of several years, starting in 2015.
In addition to the secret bombshell document that has not yet been made public, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) claimed on Monday that the FBI source kept 17 audio recordings of his conversations with the Bidens as an “insurance policy.” Two of the tapes allegedly contain his communications with the president.
This development, if true, could potentially implicate both Bidens in an alleged bribery scheme with the Ukrainian gas company, where Hunter sat on the board.
In the court of public opinion, however, the Bidens appear to have already been implicated. A recent poll by the Trafalgar Group showed that most Americans (53.3%) believe the Biden family received payments from foreign nationals to influence Washington policy.
Divided by party, a whopping 89.8% of Republicans said they believe the Biden bribery scheme to be true, whereas only 11.2% of Democrats think so. Among independents, that number stands at 50.7%.
Conservative influencers and right-wing media outlets have called on Republicans in Congress to move ahead and impeach Biden over the bribery allegations.
When Trump was close to exposing the Biden’s corruption in Ukraine, what did the swamp do?
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 10, 2023
Impeach him.
Now, House GOP has evidence from the FBI of Biden’s criminal bribery pay for play scheme and what does the swamp do?
Indict Trump.
If you haven’t noticed the pattern…
Republican lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee have so far been focused on pushing for the public release of the evidence behind Biden’s alleged involvement in a bribery scheme. They refrained from outright suggesting whether the allegations were an impeachable offense.
On Tuesday, four Senate Republicans sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, demanding that he appoints a special counsel to investigate the allegations against the president.
“The outstanding allegations of potential corruption and wrongdoing on the part of multiple members of the Biden family are deeply concerning, to say the least,” read the letter signed by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.).
“Given these concerning allegations that continue to come to light with each passing day, we urge you to appoint a special counsel to investigate any wrongdoing by President Biden and his family in their business dealings,” the senators wrote.
Tal Heinrich is a senior correspondent for both ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS. She is currently based in New York City. Tal also provides reports and analysis for Israeli Hebrew media Channel 14 News.