Ex-US attorney tasked with investigating Biden-Ukraine information was ‘limited’ by DOJ: Transcript
Fox News
FIRST ON FOX: The Justice Department “limited” a former U.S. attorney’s 2020 investigation into Biden family business dealings in Ukraine, according to testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.
Former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania Scott Brady appeared for a transcribed interview behind closed doors at the House Judiciary Committee this week, Fox News Digital has learned.
Brady was tasked in 2020 by then-Attorney General Bill Barr to run an assessment investigating information brought to the Justice Department related to Ukraine. Some of that information was brought to the DOJ by former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani related to Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine.
Brady told House investigators that his review of that material was limited to accepting information from any member of the public, and vetting the information through open-source databases, publicly available resources and pre-existing FBI records.
“It was limited by both the scope of what we were to look at and the tools that were available to us,” Brady said. “It was really a vetting to assess credibility. It was not to make determinations about whether there was evidence sufficient to open criminal investigations, anything like that.”
Fox News Digital first reported that Brady’s investigative work was limited and lacked subpoena power since they had no authorization for a grand jury. That information was revealed in a letter Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, sent to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland which was exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital Wednesday.
Brady stressed that he did not have tools that “could compel testimony or the production of documents.”
“Witnesses, bank records, emails, we weren’t able to access any of those kinds of things or compel them from third-parties,” he said.
“It was really to say, yes, we believe that this, again, as I said, is credibility, has indicia of credibility, and then pass it on to one of the offices with the predicated jury investigation,” he said.
Brady told House investigators the same, while noting that he would pass credible information along to other U.S. Attorneys Offices that had relevant, existing investigations.
Brady said he provided briefings to U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware David Weiss — now a special counsel — who has been investigating Hunter Biden since 2018. He also briefed the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Brady said that special agents from the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office were present for the briefing provided to Weiss.
But Brady said after he gave the briefings, his team was not involved.
“We had no visibility into what they did with that after we gave our briefings,” he said.
During Brady’s assessment of Ukraine information, a 2017 FD-1023 was discovered referencing Hunter Biden’s role on the board of Burisma. A re-interview of the confidential human source was requested, and later completed in June 2020.
“A confidential human source in a previous 1023 had identified an interaction with a Ukrainian national who discussed—it wasn’t the focus of that 1023 form several years prior but had made reference to Hunter Biden serving on the board of Burisma,” Brady explained. “At my direction, we asked the FBI to re-interview the CHS.”
That FD-1023 alleges a criminal bribery scheme between then-Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, and the founder and CEO of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings, Mykola Zlochevsky.
Brady told House Judiciary Committee investigators that he had determined that source to be highly credible and worked with the FBI in other investigations dating back to the Obama administration. Fox News Digital first reported that earlier this year.
Brady also told investigators that Giuliani was not the source for details included in the FD-1023 in question.
That FD-1023 is currently in the hands of Weiss, whose investigation is ongoing. Brady told investigators that his office corroborated information, by obtaining the source’s travel records which matched the dates of the foreign meeting. contained in the FD-1023 before sharing it with Weiss.
Meanwhile, Brady said that even “simple” requests to the FBI and DOJ, like “extending the assessment,” required a renewal every 30 days. Brady said it required “17 different people, including mostly at the headquarters level to sign off on it before the assessment could be extended.”
“We were told by the special agents that they had to go pens down sometimes for 2 or 3 weeks at a time before they could re-engage and take additional steps because they were still waiting on, again, someone within the 17 chain signify to approve,” he said.
When asked if he had ever seen a “17-person signoff required by the FBI,” Brady replied: “Never in my career.”
Brady testified about a September 2020 report he sent to the Justice Department about his findings, which Fox News Digital first reported earlier Wednesday. In that report, Brady recommended further investigative steps be taken related to the findings, including on the FD-1023.
Brady then told investigators he briefed U.S. attorneys at SDNY, EDNY and Delaware in October 2020.
Brady’s interview comes as part of the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation into the alleged politicization of the Justice Department and FBI, and on whether politics influenced the federal investigation