Sen. Grassley: FBI 'partisan views' shaped Trump, Hunter Biden investigations
Grassley wants transparency from FBI, DOJ on why they pursued the Trump campaign but downplayed Hunter's laptop
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, joined "America's Newsroom" Wednesday to discuss his move to investigate whether party politics impacted the Department of Justice and FBI's initial attitude towards the Hunter Biden probe and investigations into the Trump campaign.
"I believe that there were people in the FBI who had partisan views, that should never be involved in any investigation, that OK'd a go ahead of an investigation of Trump based upon fuzzy newspaper reporting," Grassley told host Bill Hemmer.
Grassley sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Chris Wray on July 18 detailing his findings and concerns about "public partisanship" from several employees, most notably Assistant Special Agent in Charge Timothy Thibault.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Thibault made his social media private last week and withdrew his posting from the public. His social media activity contained reposts from groups and pages hostile to conservatives and former President Donald Trump.
FBI DOWNPLAYING HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP STORY ‘UNFAIR,’ SHOWS ‘POLITICAL BIAS’: SEN CHUCK GRASSLEY
Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General, speaks during the U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images) (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"All you got to do is go back to a lot of his social media stuff and then very partisan comments. And he was the one making these decisions to shut down or open an investigation," Grassley said. "And I brought that information to Director Wray, or let's put it this way, I put out a press release, and that guy was moved out of that decision-making process."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On Hunter Biden, Grassley writes that new whistleblower information provided to his office "involves concerns about the FBI's receipt and use of derogatory information related to Hunter Biden, and the FBI's false portrayal of acquired evidence as disinformation."
Grassley says the whistleblower allegations indicate there was a "scheme" in place among some FBI officials to "undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter" by falsely flagging it as disinformation.
Grassley is demanding transparency on the decision-making processes on both Hunter Biden and former President Trump and hopes to uncover the extent to which partisanship is influencing the institutions.
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"I want to know what concrete steps [Wray's] going to take to shut down this partisan approach," Grassley shared.
"This is hurting the credibility of the FBI."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News' Kelly Laco contributed to this report.