Former AG Barr says Raskin lied about Biden bribery doc

Former Attorney General Bill Barr disputed the account of Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, who has insisted that the former Trump cabinet member and his "handpicked" prosecutor shut down an investigation into allegations that Joe Biden engaged in a bribery scheme while vice president.

"It’s not true. It wasn’t closed down," Barr told The Federalist on Tuesday. "On the contrary, it was sent to Delaware for further investigation."

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Raskin were permitted to view a form FD-1023 in possession of the FBI that details the alleged scheme earlier this week. The form includes allegations from a confidential human source asserting that Biden agreed to help change U.S. policy in exchange for a $5 million bribe sent to his family business.

After viewing the document, Comer insisted that there was an active investigation involving the allegations on the form. Raskin contradicted Comer's account in a presser following the viewing. 

"I must have missed that because I’ve not heard that this is part of any ongoing investigation," he said, asserting further that "The FBI and the Department of Justice team, under [then-Attorney General] William Barr and Scott Brady, in the Western District of Pennsylvania terminated the investigation. They said there were no grounds for further investigative steps. So, they ended that."

Raskin has since pushed the narrative that Barr shut down the investigation in a press release, saying "Attorney General Barr and his hand-picked U.S. Attorney signed off on closing the assessment."

Neither Comer nor Raskin provided details as to the FD-1023's relevance to the unspecified investigation, though Comer speculated it may relate to an ongoing investigation by Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who is exploring tax-related matters involving first son Hunter Biden. Raskin acknowledged that investigation, but did not link the document to that case.

Barr's remark that the document was "sent to Delaware" may lend some credence to Comer's theory that the form relates to Weiss's investigation.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.