Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told Newsmax Wednesday that the FBI may claim that it's protecting its confidential source, but what the agency is really trying to do is "protect Joe Biden."
During questioning from Republican senators at Tuesday's Judiciary Committee hearing, FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate fumbled to explain what his job entails, according to Blackburn, but admitted "that they had chosen to redact all of that information and not to reveal that there were 17 voice recordings" of Hunter Biden or President Joe Biden speaking with an executive of Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
"They were, in essence, not only keeping that from the House Oversight Committee, they were choosing to keep that from the American people and choosing to protect Joe Biden," Blackburn said during an appearance on Newsmax's "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE." "So the political cabal there at the FBI and DOJ, one has to surmise from this that they see their job as protecting people like the Bidens and the Clintons and those that are trying to further this leftist agenda that they are supporting in their efforts."
When asked if the FD-1023 form — the FBI form used to record "unverified reporting from a confidential human source" — is classified, Blackburn said, "The 1023 form is not a classified document."
"I'm sure the FBI would say it is sensitive, and they are trying to not show that in full to the committee," she said. "Now, Sen. [Chuck] Grassley [R-Iowa] got the document from the whistleblower. That's why he knows the recordings exist. But as you heard in my exchange yesterday, the deputy director would not admit that those recordings exist. And then he turned around and said that they had to protect the source, and he said it would be a life-or-death issue."
"So what we could surmise from this is that they know this source," she continued. "This is a trusted source.
"It is someone that they have used before and continue to use. So, therefore, they were using that as their reason to not bring these recordings forward. But we just know that it's because they're trying to protect Joe Biden."
The Tennessee senator added that the audio recordings of Joe and Hunter Biden "should absolutely be released to the American people so that they would know what the Bidens were doing with their time when he was vice president."
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