CNN News Central anchor John Berman hosted CNN national security reporter Zachary Cohen on Friday morning’s show to discuss what they called a “backtrack” in Republican congressmen’s statements about the Biden bribery tapes that were discovered, calling the whole situation “a series of unverified allegations” against their beloved President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
The duo spent the segment essentially rejoicing with their perceived “gotcha” moment, which was rendered absurd when considering the context of the statements, made in frustration at the FBI’s lack of action in the investigation, that they pulled from certain congressmen to illustrate their point.
Berman introduced the segment with a description of the incidents involved, including several quotes from Senate Republican Chuck Grassley (IA), who had “brought up these supposed tapes” on the Senate floor earlier in the week, but then “seems to be backtracking” on that first statement.
First, he showed a video of Grassley’s initial statement to the Senate, where he described the content of the tapes and their number, based on the reports that he had heard. The next quote that Berman played was an audio of Grassley describing how he knew that the tapes existed “because of what the report says,” meaning the initial report of the tapes that was brought to the FBI for investigation.
Grassley then said that “maybe they don’t exist,” and that he did not know for certain what was on them, because the FBI had not released any information about the case. He seemed to be very frustrated by this fact, and was most likely trying to express this frustration by complaining about not knowing much about them. But as CNN framed it, his statement was taken out of this context and portrayed to mean a denial of certainty of the existence of the tapes themselves.
Berman then brought Cohen onto the scene to “explain the backtrack that does appear to be happening amongst some Republicans.” Cohen claimed that he and other reporters had been trying to force an answer out of the Republican congressmen regarding the existence of the tapes. But, being were irked by the FBI’s lack of providing relevant information, the Republicans had not been able to answer him with anything other than that they “don’t know if they’re legit or not” (Representative James Comer, KY) and that they had not “verified that those recordings exist” (Senator Ron Johnson, WI).
Cohen claimed that the audio allegations were an example of when Republicans “lobbed a variety of allegations out there about the Bidens,” characterizing the allegations as “unverified” and simply Republicans “trying to make something stick” in their prosecution attempts of the bribery that the Bidens had been involved in.
Lastly, Cohen described these attempts at gathering information as “political attacks,” which he contrasted with “legitimate investigations”:
Now, because we know that these—that these forms—FBI form and these allegations were passed along to a U.S. attorney, the FBI official would not comment on an ongoing investigative matter, but still, you know, there is this line between legitimate investigations and then these political attacks from Republicans, and that line can be blurry at times.
Also, curious to note that Democrat pursuits of investigation of audio tapes containing incriminating information had been persecuted viciously, as we have been seeing with Trump, but all Republican attempts to do the same thing were considered “a bold claim” and “unverified” because of lack of diligence. Interesting.
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Transcript of the segment below (click Expand):
CNN News Central
06/16/23
9:44 AM ET
JOHN BERMAN: This morning, some Republicans are admitting they do not know if there is any truth to the allegations that 17 audiotapes exist that may implicate Joe and Hunter Biden in a bribery scheme. On the Senate floor this week, Senator Chuck Grassley brought up these supposed tapes which were allegedly recorded when Biden was vice president, but now he seems to be backtracking, saying he has not heard them and does not know if they are real.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA, JUNE 12): The foreign national who allegedly bribed Joe and Hunter Biden allegedly has audio recordings of his conversation with them, 17 such recordings.
GRASSLEY (JUNE 15): I just know they exist because of what the report says. Now, maybe they don’t exist. But how will I know until the FBI tells us, are they showing us their work?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So senators learned about the alleged tapes from an FBI form, known as an FD-1023, 1023. The document reportedly summarizes multiple conversations between an FBI informant and a foreign national, alleging that a Ukrainian energy company executive offered both Joe and Hunter Biden $5 million bribes. A lot there.
CNN’s Zachary Cohen is with us now. Thank goodness you’re here to sort of parse what this all means. First, what exactly are these tapes? And explain the backtrack that does appear to be happening amongst some Republicans.
ZACHARY COHEN: Yeah, John, this is really a bold claim from a senior Senate Republican in Chuck Grassley, who says that, you know, there’s over a dozen audio tapes of this unnamed foreign national talking about, with the Bidens, President Joe Biden when he was vice president, and his son Hunter, about these alleged bribery scheme.
Now, we—reporters have been pressing Republicans to prove these allegations, to show any evidence that they’re even remotely true, and so far Republicans have failed to not only back them up, but have really shied away from Grassley’s claim about the audio tapes.
Take a listen to what House Oversight Chairman James Comer and Senator Ron Johnson, who’s launched his own investigation previously into the Bidens’ foreign dealings. See what they said when asked about Grassley’s claims.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): We don’t know if they’re legit or not, but we know that the foreign national claims he has them.
SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): I’m not aware that we have verified that those recordings exist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: So Republicans have lobbed a variety of allegations out there about the Bidens, about Hunter Biden, who is under investigation in his own right, but have—the Republicans have not made any sort of direct connection between those allegations and the current President.
These—these audio tapes are just the latest in a series of unverified allegations from Republicans on The Hill who are trying to make something stick.
BERMAN: Does the FBI have anything to say about any of this?
COHEN: Yeah, John, the FBI—a senior FBI official was up on Capitol Hill recently and was asked about the existence of these audio tapes.
Now, because we know that these—that these forms—FBI form and these allegations were passed along to a U.S. attorney, the FBI official would not comment on an ongoing investigative matter, but still, you know, there is this line between legitimate investigations and then these political attacks from Republicans, and that line can be blurry at times.
BERMAN: Alright, Zach Cohen, thank you so much for explaining exactly what is, and—and maybe what is not, going on here. Appreciate it.
