WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Committee on the Budget, sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray, and Special Counsel David Weiss demanding public accountability for failing to properly vet a longtime taxpayer-funded FBI Confidential Human Source (CHS) who was recently federally indicted for providing false information. 

In their letter, the senators named the handling agent and supervisors directly responsible for overseeing the CHS and vetting the FD-1023, requesting transcribed interviews with each individual. 

“The federal indictment of [Confidential Human Source] Smirnov leaves many questions unanswered, including how the Justice Department and FBI could use this Confidential Human Source for approximately 14 years, pay him hundreds of thousands of dollars, use his information in investigations and prosecutions, and then ultimately determine he’s a liar,” the senators wrote.

“Accordingly, so that Congress and the public have answers relating to U.S. Attorney Weiss and the FBI’s multi-year delay in investigating the allegations in the FD-1023 and the FBI’s efforts to vet the Confidential Human Source, we request that you make the [Confidential Human Source’s] handling agent and his superiors available for a full-day transcribed interview no later than May 7, 2024,” the senators concluded.

Concerns regarding the CHS’s credibility only came to light due to Grassley’s insistence the FBI adhere to proper investigative procedure and follow up on information provided by the CHS in an FBI FD-1023 document alleging a potential criminal bribery scheme involving the Biden family. 

Sens. Johnson and Grassley are also demanding full transparency regarding the actions the DOJ and FBI took, or failed to take, to investigate every aspect of the FD-1023, which the government has yet to publicly explain. The senators asked if the government interviewed all named parties in the FD-1023 and whether they have conclusively determined that the audio tapes, bank records and text messages alleging the bribery scheme do not exist. Additionally, Grassley and Johnson grilled the FBI and DOJ on whether reforms will be made to the FBI’s Confidential Human Source program in light of the agencies’ nearly 14-year failure to adequately vet their recently indicted source.

Read more about the senators’ April 9, 2024 letter in Fox News.

Full text of the letter can be found here.

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