FBI Secretly Recorded Joe Biden's Brother James During $100k Bribery Investigation: Report
Dec. 18 2023, Published 9:05 a.m. ET
President Joe Biden's brother, James Biden, was secretly recorded by the FBI during a bribery investigation into a Mississippi trial attorney, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In the latest development to come after House Republicans voted to launch an impeachment inquiry against President Biden on Wednesday, it was revealed that Biden’s younger brother was embroiled in a federal bribery investigation dating back to the 1990s.
According to the Washington Post, Mississippi trial attorney Richard Scruggs hired James and Sara Biden's Lion Hall consulting firm to garner support for a piece of tobacco legislation that was being considered by Congress in 1998.
It should be noted that neither James nor Joe Biden were implicated in any criminal wrongdoing connected to the FBI’s investigation into Scruggs more than 20 years ago.
“I probably wouldn’t have hired him if he wasn’t the senator’s brother,” Scruggs told the Washington Post this past weekend.
“Jim was never untoward about his influence,” Scruggs added. “He didn’t brag about it or talk about it. He didn’t have to. He was the man’s brother.”
Scruggs was pursuing a lawsuit against several tobacco companies and seeking roughly $368 billion when he hired James Biden’s Lion Hall consulting firm in 1998, according to the Post. Scruggs reportedly wanted Congress to waive anti-trust provisions as part of a settlement deal.
Joe Biden was said to be skeptical about the settlement at the time, although the then-senator later became one of the bill's most significant supporters.
Scruggs reportedly made multiple $10,000 payments to Lion Hall over the course of 1998.
“I hope he did,” the Mississippi trial attorney said when asked whether James Biden convinced his then-senator brother to back the 1998 tobacco bill.
Meanwhile, the recording of James Biden by the FBI reportedly transpired years after the tobacco bill controversy took place.
The FBI was reportedly investigating Scruggs over another alleged bribery scheme, and they recorded phone calls that included calls between the Mississippi trial lawyer and James Biden.
Never miss a story — sign up for the RadarOnline.com newsletter to get your daily dose of dope. Daily. Breaking. Celebrity news. All free.
President Biden’s younger brother was attempting to create a partnership with Scruggs' partners at the time, and a lawyer for James Biden told the Post that the potential partnership “never got off the ground.”
The FBI recordings also showed that the calls in which James Biden participated primarily discussed the failed partnership.
Although Scruggs and some of his partners were eventually convicted and sent to prison, James Biden was never implicated in the bribery scheme.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, this fresh revelation came just days after House Republicans voted to open an impeachment inquiry against President Biden.
House GOP investigators are reportedly looking into whether James Biden used Lion Hall to funnel money to the rest of the Biden family.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer recently flagged a $40,000 “loan repayment” check from James to Joe in 2017, and Comer alleged that the check involved "laundered" money from the Chinese government-linked company CEFC.
"[James Biden’s] work has never involved speaking with or providing access to his brother,” a lawyer for the president’s brother said over the weekend.
The White House has also dismissed the House GOP’s allegations against President Biden and the Biden family.