GOP oversight chair claims, without evidence, that Joe Biden and son Hunter “sold out America”

House Oversight Chair James Comer claims President Joe Biden allegedly ran a bribery scheme when he was vice president with his son Hunter and a foreign national.

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) this week alleged the foreign national has more than a dozen recordings of conversations with the Bidens.

But as CNN’s Sara Murray reports, when asked for evidence of any wrongdoing neither Grassley nor Comer have — as of now — been able to deliver.

“The foreign national who allegedly bribed Joe and Hunter Biden allegedly has audio recordings of his conversation with them. 17 such recordings,” said Grassley.

A bold – and unsubstantiated – claim from a senior Senate Republican, even prompting members of his own party to pump the brakes.

“I’m not aware that we have verified those recordings exist,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin)

Grassley says a foreign national has audio tapes of Joe Biden and his son Hunter – related to an alleged bribery scheme involving the foreign national when Biden was vice president.

The existence of the tapes was allegedly documented in an FBI document known as an FD-1023.

“These recordings were allegedly kept as a sort of insurance policy for the foreign national in case that he got into a tight spot,” said Grassley.

Grassley tells CNN even he isn’t sure if the tapes are real.

“I just know they exist because of what the report said. Now, maybe they don’t exist. But how will I know until the FBI tells us, are they showing us their work?” Grassley said.

This – as fellow Republicans question the legitimacy of the tapes – and the motivations of the foreigner making these salacious claims.

“I don’t know if they’re legit or not, but we know that the foreign national claims he has them,” said Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.).

“This could be coming from a very corrupt oligarch who could be making this stuff up,” said Johnson.

The tapes are the latest unverified allegation Republicans have raised as they investigate the Biden family’s business dealings and the work of the FBI.

When these allegations came to light under the Trump administration, then-attorney General Bill Barr tapped Pittsburgh U.S. Attorney Scott Brady to look into them.

Investigators were unable to corroborate the claims.

“It was thoroughly checked out by the Trump justice department, and they couldn’t find anything there,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland).

But some of the allegations were passed along to Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who is overseeing an ongoing criminal investigation into Hunter.

“It was provided to the ongoing investigation in Delaware to follow up on,” said Barr.

On Capitol Hill this week – the FBI’s deputy director refused to discuss the tapes.

“Do you have those 17 recordings?” asked Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

“I’m not going to comment on any investigative matters, Senator,” Paul Abbate replied.

The FBI has stressed the document at the center of this all, these FD-23s, include unverified allegations that come from FBI informants.

In a new statement, a White House spokesperson said:

“Everything in their so-called investigation seems to be mysteriously missing: informants, audio tapes, and most importantly of all, any credible evidence.”