GOP, Dems Clash Over Tipster in Hunter Biden Probe After DOJ Files Charges

Democrats in the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability on Wednesday sent a letter to Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who is chairman of the committee, to turn over everything provided by Gal Luft.

Mr. Luft, co-director of the think tank Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, was on Monday charged with eight counts, including working as a foreign agent for China, arms trafficking, and making false statements to federal agents.

Days before the indictment was made public, Mr. Luft filmed a video from an undisclosed location detailing the timeline of events from his own perspective. He had originally been arrested in February in the Republic of Cyprus and fled after being released on bail. The video was first obtained by the NY Post.

In March 2019, Mr. Luft participated in a two-day interview with six FBI personnel. Mr. Luft, who holds U.S.-Israeli dual citizenship, was in Brussels at the time, and the FBI personnel flew overseas to meet with him. In the meeting, Mr. Luft says he gave insider information about the Biden family’s financial dealings with CEFC China Energy. In his think tank position, he had had an advisory position with CEFC China Energy and said in the video the information he provided was similar to the information found on the laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden, but it appeared it was not acted on.

Mr. Luft said in the video his motive was never political; he only wanted to prevent another lengthy “Russia collusion” type scandal with a sitting president but that it happened again anyway.

Veracity of the Brussels Interview

Mr. Comer has been investigating the Biden family’s financial dealings with foreign nationals and has said on multiple occasions that Mr. Luft was a credible witness, one the FBI had flown six people to Brussels in order to interview for two days.

According to the indictment, the information Mr. Luft gave was false. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) emphasized in their letter that Mr. Luft was no whistleblower but instead a “conman.”

“It appears as if Mr. Luft sought ‘whistleblower’ status from you in an effort to defend himself from criminal prosecution while a fugitive from justice,” they wrote.

“Worse yet, this latest episode also raises concerns that Mr. Luft may be manipulating your investigation not only for his own self-interest but perhaps also in furtherance of the CCP’s efforts to undermine U.S. security interests and the President of the United States.”

They further wrote that Mr. Luft’s status discredited the rest of the investigation.

“These recent revelations naturally raise broader concerns about the credibility and motivations of other purported whistleblowers that Congressional Republicans have relied on to support unfounded and baseless allegations. Sadly, the Luft episode severely undermines the credibility of the critical function of whistleblowers in this body,” wrote the members (pdf).

They demanded Mr. Comer provide Committee Democrats with everything Mr. Luft had supplied, noting that Mr. Comer had not yet shared any of these materials.

Mr. Comer, who is requesting the materials from the FBI’s 2019 Brussels interview with Mr. Luft, responded with a statement questioning their motives and urged Democrats to likewise look into what the FBI actually uncovered.

“It’s astonishing that Ranking Member Raskin and Rep. Dan Goldman didn’t