Recently declassified documents pertaining to purported Chinese interference in the 2020 presidential election portray the FBI as a “broken institution,” according to a top Senate Republican.
Newsweek reached out to the bureau via email for comment on Tuesday.
Why It Matters
In mid-June, FBI Director Kash Patel declassified documents that “detail alarming allegations” about potential Chinese interference in the Donald Trump-Joe Biden election. The documents were then shared for review with Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican and chair of the Judiciary Committee.
China has denied any nefarious involvement in swaying the election results in 2020, and again in 2024. Allies of President Trump have alleged that China rigged the 2020 results in former President Biden‘s favor, invigorating hardcore supporters to march on the Capitol, leading to the siege of January 6, 2021.
What To Know
On Tuesday, Grassley released internal FBI emails that he claims reveal how the agency “suppressed intelligence of alleged Chinese interference in the 2020 election to insulate then-FBI Director Christopher Wray from criticism,” after he “provided inaccurate and contradictory testimony to Congress.”
“These records smack of political decision-making and prove the Wray-led FBI to be a deeply broken institution,” Grassley said in a statement. “Ahead of a high-stakes election happening amid an unprecedented global pandemic, the FBI turned its back on its national security mission.
“One way or the other, intelligence must be fully investigated to determine whether it’s true, or if it’s just smoke and mirrors. Chris Wray’s FBI wasn’t looking out for the American people—it was looking to save its own image. Now’s the time to rebuild the FBI’s trust.”
Grassley spokesperson Clare Slattery told Newsweek that the senator “draws no conclusions as to any potential impact these allegations may have had on the election.”
“Grassley’s release is exposing the Wray FBI for failing to properly investigate this allegation due to a political calculation,” Slattery said. “He is not drawing conclusions as to the veracity of the claims—that is for the FBI to do.”
The release of these new redacted emails is directly correlated to Patel saying last month that the Chinese Communist Party and potentially others are alleged to have been involved in interfering with the 2020 election outcome by manufacturing fake driver’s licenses for the purpose of facilitating fraudulent mail-in ballots, Slattery said.
Grassley said that what is being suppressed is an Intelligence Information Report (IIR) from the FBI’s Albany Field Office on September 25, 2020, which contained information from an FBI Confidential Human Source (CHS) alleging the Chinese government’s production of “tens of thousands” of fraudulent driver’s licenses to benefit then-presidential candidate Biden.
The CHS was reinterviewed and their allegations purportedly backed the initial IIR’s findings. An FBI Albany official described the source as “competent” and “authentic in his/her reporting,” per emails, with a high level of confidence in the “9-10 range.”
The allegations, according to the FBI, showed signs of credibility but were not fully investigated due to the bureau’s sudden and “abnormal” decision to halt the probe. Other FBI field offices and members within the intelligence community were disallowed from accessing or studying the IIR.
The FBI’s stated reason for doing so was because “the reporting will contradict Director Wray’s testimony.”
What People Are Saying
Wray, during sworn testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on September 24, 2020: “We take all election-related threats seriously, whether it is voter fraud, voter suppression, whether it is in person, whether it is by mail. And our role is to investigate the threat actors. Now, we have not seen historically any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it is by mail or otherwise. … [B]ut people should make no mistake we are vigilant as to the threat and watching it carefully, because we are in uncharted new territory.”
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino posted to X: “We typically work behind the scenes in this space, but we understand we need to rebuild your trust in the FBI and learn from past mistakes. That’s why we have declassified and shared with Congress thousands of pages of documents related to our counterintelligence work, and it’s why we’re continuing to release as much as we can to the public.”
What Happens Next
It remains unclear what further events to which the declassified documents could lead. Grassley’s office did not say whether future hearings could be called to have Wray, members of the FBI or whistleblowers testify.
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