When Senator Grassley released a partially redacted version of the FBI’s FD-1023 report regarding allegations concerning President Biden, Burisma, and other matters, it actually completely changed a storyline that had been widely reported.  

Prior to yesterday, the widely circulated allegation was that Burisma oligarchs bribed President Biden in order to get rid of the Ukrainian prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, who was investigating Burisma for corruption. As this argument went, once Mr. Biden got rid of Mr. Shokin, then Burisma could go ahead with their plans to start a new gas company or purchase an existing one in America.  

Now, these were allegations from earlier FD-1023 reports. But one key point was the search for 17 audio tapes representing conversations between a Burisma oligarch who allegedly phoned Mr. Biden twice, and Hunter Biden 15 times. So, in other words, the idea was Burisma was bribing Mr. Biden.  

Now, with Mr. Grassley’s FD-1023 release yesterday, the alleged story has changed — remarkably. In fact, completely. The new report suggests that it was Mr. Biden who pushed the Burisma CEO to pay both himself and his son Hunter.  

This isn’t the president taking a bribe. This is really Mr. Biden extorting Burisma. A shakedown.   

From the FBI report: The CHS, as confidential human sources are referred to, “asked Burisma CEO Zlochevsky whether he was concerned about Burisma’s involvement with the Bidens. Zlochevsky stated he didn’t want to pay the Bidens and he was ‘pushed to pay’ them.” The Russian term Mr. Zlochevsky used to describe how he felt, the CHS clarified, is criminal slang for “forced or coerced to pay.”  

All of this allegedly took place after the 2016 U.S. election.  

Mr. Zlochevsky further told the CHS that he had many text messages and recordings that showed he, Mr. Zlochevsky, was forced to pay the Bidens. As a footnote, it’s worth mentioning that the CHS earlier told Mr. Zlochevsky not to make any payments to the Bidens, and to just hire a lawyer for $50,000 to help open up a company in the U.S. 

So, the original story was that Burisma bribed Mr. Biden to get rid of Mr. Shokin. Hence, all of the rumors and allegations that Mr. Biden was bribed by a foreign national to change policy — meaning get rid of the Ukrainian prosecutor. With Mr. Grassley’s release yesterday of the latest FD-1023, though, the story has changed, big time.  

Now, it seems to read that neither CHS, nor Mr. Zlochevsky, or even other Zlochevsky advisers wanted to pay the Bidens at all. But it was Mr. Biden who insisted. In return for $5 million to Mr. Biden and $5 million to Hunter, Mr. Biden got rid of Mr. Shokin — which, by the way, he bragged about later on in front of the Council on Foreign Relations.  

One other point here, while we’re talking about extortion and shakedowns. The CHS asked Mr. Zlochevsky whether Hunter Biden or his father told him to retain Hunter on the Burisma board, and the Burisma CEO replied: “They both did.” Of course they did. More money for the Biden crime family.  

After all, $83,000 is not nothing. It’s not as good as $5 million, but, after all, you could build on it.  

Right here, I’m going to repeat that these are all allegations. But, as we know, the CHS has, from Day One, garnered a lot of credibility from the FBI itself, who has paid him six figures for past information. So, I guess, to verify all these allegations you want this CHS to somehow appear before some legal body. Like, for example, the FBI.  

But, wait a minute: The FBI has already deposed him. And it’s a federal offense to lie on these documents. 

Or, the FBI could (and should) be searching for the various text messages and audio tapes referred to by the CHS in these FD-1023 documents. The FBI has done none of this, apparently.  

This story is at least 3 years old, and maybe 7 years old or even older than that. Why hasn’t the FBI thoroughly investigated these bombshell charges?  

Bribery is bribery, and that’s bad enough. But presidential extortions and shakedowns is, I think, a particularly awful and nasty form of bribery. And it strongly suggests that, down through the years, it is Mr. Biden who was the ringleader in the Biden family enterprise. Hunter was simply his chosen instrument.  

Even critics of the Bidens have gotten this story backwards. It was Mr. Biden, not Burisma, who launched the pay-for-play. And it was Mr. Biden, not Hunter, who’s been calling the shots all along. But the basic story doesn’t change.  

If these allegations are proven, this is the biggest political scandal in American history.  

From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business News.