FBI documents link of Biden's brother with defendant in bribery case

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has documented a link between the brother of US President James Biden and a defendant in a 2008 bribery case against a judge.

This was reported by The Washington Post, which reviewed court documents and interviewed Richard Scruggs, the lawyer convicted in the case.

He said that in 1998 he approached James Biden to persuade then-US Senator Joe Biden to support a bill concerning tobacco companies.

Scruggs paid the firm $100,000 in 1998 for advice on passing the bill, Scruggs said in an interview at his office here — the first time he has disclosed the amount.

“I probably wouldn’t have hired him if he wasn’t the senator’s brother,” Scruggs said.

Biden eventually backed the bill, which ultimately failed to pass Congress.

“Jim was never untoward about his influence. He didn’t brag about it or talk about it. He didn’t have to. He was the man’s brother,” the lawyer said.

James Biden and Scruggs' ties drew the attention of FBI agents conducting a massive investigation that eventually led to the lawyer's 2008 imprisonment over the bribe. When bureau agents were conducting surveillance on Scruggs and his aides in connection with the lawyer's intention to hand over a $40,000 bribe to a local judge, they also secretly recorded conversations with James Biden, who at the time was trying to set up a consulting firm with Scruggs.

The Republicans currently controlling the US House of Representatives are conducting an impeachment investigation against Democrat President Biden. In this context, they are examining, among other things, the financial affairs of the president's brother and son James and Hunter Biden.