There was a widespread push in the FBI to dismiss and label evidence “disinformation” in connection to the investigation into Hunter Biden, according to a senior Senate Republican who claims to have corresponded with “highly credible whistleblowers.”

Intelligence concerning the Biden son’s alleged “criminal financial and related activity” was downplayed by the FBI in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election, whistleblowers purportedly told Sen. Chuck Grassley, who wrote a letter Monday to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

FBI supervisory intelligence analyst Brian Auten “opened an assessment” in August 2020 to “improperly discredit negative information” about Hunter, resulting in the ceasing of “investigative activity,” said Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“If these allegations are true and accurate, the Justice Department and FBI are – and have been – institutionally corrupted to their very core to the point in which the United States Congress and the American people will have no confidence in the equal application of the law,” said Grassley in his letter. “Attorney General Garland and Director Wray, simply put, based on the allegations that I’ve received from numerous whistleblowers, you have systemic and existential problems within your agencies.”

The Justice Department’s (DOJ) investigation into Hunter Biden’s foreign and domestic business dealings has neared a “critical juncture,” CNN reported on July 20, and is more focused on the Biden son’s alleged involvement in a 2018 gun incident and alleged tax violations.

Auten’s assessment of evidence in connection with Hunter Biden led to FBI investigators communicating with agents probing the Biden son’s dealings — who placed findings “in a restricted access sub-file” in September 2020, according to Grassley. Republican senators have been repeatedly stonewalled by the DOJ after seeking information on the Hunter Biden investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Delaware.

In October 2020, then-FBI agent Timothy Thibault allegedly “ordered closed” an “avenue of additional derogatory Hunter Biden reporting,” said Grassley. Thibault “ordered the matter closed without providing a valid reason as required” and the FBI “subsequently attempted to improperly mark the matter in FBI systems so that it could not be opened in the future,” the senator claimed.

Thibault was the subject of a June DOJ Inspector General report related to “potential violations of the Hatch Act” for his promotion of anti-Trump social media after Grassley urged the DOJ in May to probe the matter.

Lawyers for Hunter Biden did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the DOJ or FBI.