Sen. Chuck Grassley said Monday that the Burisma executive who allegedly paid Joe Biden and Hunter Bidenkept 17 audio recordings of his conversationswith them as an "insurance policy," citing the FBI FD-1023 form that the bureau briefed congressional lawmakers on.
17 audio recordings. 11th hour testimony.
What has Congress asked for, and how has the Bureau responded?
On May 3, 2023, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability issued a subpoena to the FBI requesting an “unclassified FD-1023 form.” On May 10, OCA responded in writing to the committee, assuring them of the FBI’s commitment to working with them to provide information necessary for their legitimate oversight interest while also protecting CHS information. OCA staff followed up with an in-person meeting with committee staff on May 15 to learn more about their legislative interests and specific informational needs.
Subsequently, on May 22, a deputy assistant director (DAD) of the FBI’s Directorate of Intelligence briefed committee staff. That briefing:
Included a detailed discussion of the Attorney General’s Guidelines regarding the Use of FBI Confidential Human Sources policy — which strictly limits when and how CHS information can be provided outside of the FBI — as well as the reasons behind the policy.
Emphasized the importance of the FBI protecting not only the identity of a specific CHS but also information that would tend to identify the source, such as contextual material found in many of the kinds of investigative materials requested by the committee, such as FD-1023s.
Explained the importance of closely protecting source information to preserve sources and methods and maintain investigative integrity, to prevent a potential decline in the FBI’s recruitment of sources and their candor in reporting, and to protect sources and individuals associated with them from being physically harmed or even killed. The briefing highlighted that the FBI’s obligation to protect CHS information extends at least for the life of the source.
Presented an overview of the various levels of approval that go into reviewing FD-1023s, as well as the policies that govern how FD-1023s are routed internally. The DAD outlined how the FBI analyzes the veracity of source reporting and the internal oversight mechanisms designed to weigh reporting against other information known or developed by the FBI, and cautioned that raw, unverified source reporting may lack that important context.
On May 30, OCA communicated with the committee to inform them that we had identified responsive information that we were prepared to offer the committee as an extraordinary accommodation, and that a previously scheduled call between Director Wray and the chairman would still take place the following day.
On May 31, Director Wray had separate calls with the chairman and ranking member. The Director discussed the good faith efforts the FBI has taken to accommodate the committee’s request. He also conveyed that the FBI had identified an FD-1023 that the FBI believes is responsive to the subpoena. The Director further offered to produce that document with limited redactions for review at their earliest convenience, along with an important briefing to provide context to the document.
https://socxfbi.org/SFSA/SFSA/Featured-Articles/Message-from-the-FBI-on-the-FD-1023-Request-from-Congress.aspx