Attorney General William Barr confirmed on Monday that the Justice Department has “established an intake process” for information that President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani collected about Joe and Hunter Biden in Ukraine.
“The DOJ has the obligation to have an open door to anybody who wishes to provide us information that they think is relevant,” Barr said during a presser at the Justice Department.
The intake process was meant to ensure that all information about Ukraine, including any information Giuliani provided, would be “carefully scrutinized” by Justice Department and intelligence community officials to determine its “provenance” and “credibility,” Barr said.
The attorney general’s remarks come after Senator Chuck Grassley, chair of the Finance Committee, and Senator Ron Johnson, chair of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, last week obtained sensitive financial records from the Treasury Department as part of their continuing investigation into Hunter Biden’s activities in Ukraine.
Hunter’s lucrative service on the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma has prompted allegations of a conflict of interest by the president and many of his allies. At the time Hunter was hired, the elder Biden was in charge of investigating corruption in Ukraine as part of his vice presidential duties. The Republican chairmen have also requested Hunter Biden’s travel records from the Secret Service.
Over the weekend, Giuliani claimed that he was aware of three Ukranian witnesses ready to “name names” in the Hunter Biden investigation, saying he has a “smoking gun” that will “totally vindicate” Trump.
“The government has been so lax in investigating, it’s pathetic,” Giuliani said, adding that he would have investigated Joe Biden for bribery after the former vice president boasted about ousting Ukraine prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was investigating the Ukranian gas company paying his son.
Barr added a word of caution about information coming from Ukraine, saying officials must be “very careful” in evaluating its credibility.
“There are a lot of agendas in the Ukraine,” Barr warned. “There are a lot of cross currents. And we can’t take anything we receive from the Ukraine at face value.”