Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in an interview released on the latest episode of “Pod Force One” that former President Joe Biden’s record will be remembered for corruption allegations, family influence-peddling, and his diminished mental and physical capacity during his time in office, as reported by The New York Post.

Grassley, 91, who entered the Senate in 1980, eight years after Biden, said the Democrat’s legacy is tarnished.

“Considering the fact that he doesn’t look like he was running [the White House] at least in [the most] recent two or three years, I think he will never go down in history as a very effective senator or very effective president,” Grassley said.

The Iowa Republican noted that during their years together in the Senate, he found Biden to be cooperative and approachable.

“I got along with him,” Grassley recalled. “I didn’t think he was corrupt. I didn’t think he was incompetent. I had a pretty good relationship with him for 28 years that we served together … I wouldn’t say I was close. But we worked together on legislation. We got along personally pretty well.”

Grassley said Biden changed dramatically after becoming vice president in 2008, attributing unpopular decisions during his presidency to aides and staff.

“Physically and mentally” different, Biden relied heavily on advisers, Grassley argued, pointing to mass pardons and commutations that included some violent offenders.

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Responding to Post columnist Miranda Devine’s suggestion that staffers had been making decisions for Biden, Grassley answered, “Yes. Yes. When you do 1,000 commutations and pardons, and you don’t pay any attention to what you’re doing [that’s not] your job [anymore].”

Grassley said he met with Biden only once during his presidency but observed enough to conclude he was no longer the same legislator he had known.

“What I’ve learned by what everybody else has said [is] going on and what you observed on TV, that a lot changed since he left the United States Senate,” he said.

Grassley also emphasized his investigations into Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings, which tied millions of dollars in payments to Hunter while his father was vice president.

He highlighted his effort to press then-FBI Director Christopher Wray for a confidential informant file that alleged Hunter and Joe Biden took a $10 million bribe from an executive at Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian natural gas firm.

That informant, Alexander Smirnov, was later charged with lying to federal investigators. He pleaded guilty in December 2024 and was sentenced to six years in prison in January 2025.

Grassley noted the FBI had relied on Smirnov for more than a decade, even as he was providing false information.

Special counsel David Weiss, who brought the case against Smirnov, also indicted Hunter Biden in 2023 on felony tax and gun charges. Weiss declined to file additional charges for foreign agent registration violations, saying evidence was insufficient.

Hunter’s uncle, James Biden, also pursued foreign deals, including ventures with Chinese business interests, but was not charged despite House investigators linking financial transfers that ultimately reached Joe Biden’s bank account.

Biden issued a pardon for Hunter in December 2024, just weeks before leaving office. The clemency covered crimes from 2014 through 2024, including his conviction for illegal firearm possession and a guilty plea over $1.4 million in unpaid taxes.

Grassley said the pardon confirmed wrongdoing. “I’m not surprised,” he remarked. “But it shouldn’t have been done and proves the guilt of Hunter Biden.”

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