Shallow investigations of three Biden-era controversies are being reopened by the FBI, Deputy Director Dan Bongino revealed, while suggesting that “potential public corruption” was ignored by his predecessor.
The three high-profile cases all occurred under former FBI Director Christopher Wray, a foil of President Donald Trump whom he accused of covering for former President Joe Biden and members of his family. One incident — the 2023 discovery of cocaine in the White House — threatened to implicate his son Hunter, who famously struggled with drug addiction.
That is just one example of Wray failing to explain why, for example, Secret Service agents destroyed the drugs and determined who brought them into the White House without revealing the culprit’s identity.
“Shortly after swearing in, the Director and I evaluated a number of cases of potential public corruption that, understandably, have garnered public interest,” Bongino said in a statement. “We made the decision to either re-open, or push additional resources and investigative attention, to these cases.”
Two other cases set to be examined include the 2021 discovery of pipe bombs at the national headquarters of the Republican and Democratic parties, as well as the 2022 leak of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, most likely by a staff member close to the justices’ conversations.
Weekly updates on all three cases will be shared, said Bongino, who added, “We are making progress.”
Four years after pipe bombs were discovered, the question of who planted them remains a mystery. Both devices were found one day prior to the Jan. 6, 2021, breach at the Capitol.
Under Wray, who left after Trump took office, investigators concluded that the devices were likely left between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 5. Former Vice President Kamala Harris was in the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the time and was evacuated after the bombs were discovered by a passerby.
No suspect has ever been named, but security footage from that day shows a shadowy figure seated on a nearby park bench who is seen reaching into a backpack to remove the device and place it outside the DNC.
A report obtained by CBS News in 2021 stated that the pipe bomb was set to be triggered by a 60-minute kitchen timer and posed a credible threat to those inside the buildings.
Also worthy of additional scrutiny is the 2022 leak of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which Chief Justice John Roberts described at the time as a “betrayal” and “a singular and egregious betrayal of trust” by an insider close to the court. It was theorized that a pro-choice staffer leaked the document in order to provoke animosity toward the majority of justices before the decision was released several months later.
An eight-month investigation by former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff examined all aspects of the case but wrapped up without naming a suspect.
A 20-page statement released by Chertoff’s team said it was “unlikely” that the leak came from a breach of the court’s IT systems, as there was “no forensic evidence indicating who disclosed the draft opinion.”
Before President Biden left office, the Secret Service claimed to have interviewed “several hundred” individuals who had access to an area of the West Wing where a bag of cocaine was discovered in 2023. However, the investigation was closed after 11 days when agents said that there was “insufficient DNA” on the bag, including a lack of fingerprints, for “investigative comparisons.”
