House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) announced Tuesday he will move forward with holding FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress.
The top GOP lawmaker announced in an afternoon statement that the bureau failed to comply with his subpoena requesting documentation believed to contain allegations of a criminal “bribery” scheme involving President Joe Biden.
“Today, the FBI informed the Committee that it will not provide the unclassified documents subpoenaed by the Committee,” Comer said. “The FBI’s decision to stiff-arm Congress and hide this information from the American people is obstructionist and unacceptable.”
Though Comer noted that he has a call with Wray scheduled for Wednesday, the chairman stressed the House Oversight Committee “has been clear in its intent to protect Congressional oversight authorities and will now be taking steps to hold the FBI Director in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a lawful subpoena.”
The chairman said whistleblower disclosures led him and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to believe the Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI have an unclassified FD-1023 form describing the alleged scheme involving Biden, dating back to his time as vice president, and a foreign national. Comer initially sent the subpoena on May 3 with a May 10 deadline, but later extended it to Tuesday.
This particular FD-1023 form may reference some variant of “five million” and “June 30, 2020,” Comer wrote in a letter to Wray last week. “These terms relate to the date on the FD-1023 form and its reference to the amount of money the foreign national allegedly paid to receive the desired policy outcome,” he added.
The FBI responded to Comer in a letter, which was published by POLITICO, saying in part that officials at the bureau have “identified additional information that we are prepared to offer the Committee as an extraordinary accommodation.”
Wray “looks forward to discussing how we plan to make that information available to the Committee during your call tomorrow,” said acting Assistant Director for Congressional Affairs Christopher Dunham.
The FBI additionally provided a statement to The Daily Wire responding to Comer’s statement.
“The FBI remains committed to cooperating with the Committee in good faith. In a letter to Chairman Comer earlier today, the FBI committed to providing access to information responsive to the Committee’s subpoena in a format and setting that maintains confidentiality and protects important security interests and the integrity of FBI investigations,” the FBI said.
“Last week, Director Wray scheduled a telephone call for tomorrow to provide additional details of the FBI’s extraordinary accommodation to satisfy the subpoena request,” the FBI added. “Any discussion of escalation under these circumstances is unnecessary.”
Although Comer has not publicly identified a country linked to the matter, the date he divulged lands on the calendar about two weeks after Ukrainian officials announced there had been a $5 million bribe aimed at ending an investigation into the founder of Burisma Holdings, the same Ukrainian gas company at which Biden’s son, Hunter, served on the board for several years.
As congressional Republicans have raised concerns about members of the Biden family being involved in influence peddling schemes linked to countries around the world, Democrats have accused their GOP counterparts of ignoring alleged misconduct by former President Donald Trump while trying to dig up “dirt” on the Bidens.
The White House has also shot back at Republicans in Congress. “House Republicans have shown no evidence of any policy decisions influenced by anything other than U.S. national interests,” tweeted White House spokesperson Ian Sams earlier this month. “That’s because they can’t.”
The FBI says FD-1023 forms are filled out to record claims from confidential human sources. Even after McCarthy spoke over the phone with Wray earlier this month, lawmakers said the bureau resisted acknowledging the particular file they seek even exists. Publicly, the bureau has generally cautioned against disclosing unverified information from informants.
“The FBI remains committed to cooperating with Congress’s oversight requests on this matter and others as we always have, and we continue to be in touch with members of Congress regarding this request,” the FBI told The Daily Wire on Tuesday. “The FBI’s mission is to protect the American people. Releasing confidential source information could potentially jeopardize investigations and put lives at risk.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) addressed confidentiality issues in a separate interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt. “If there’s a concern about methods or areas of how we get it, redact names so we don’t see that. But you’ve got to show the document,” he said.
McCarthy also made it clear on Tuesday that he has Comer’s back in demanding the document and holding Wray in contempt. “Today is the deadline for him to act,” the speaker said.” If he does not act, he’s not above the law. He’s not above Congress. And we will hold him in contempt. Now I want to be very clear about that.”
If the House, which is narrowly controlled by Republicans, were to approve a criminal contempt referral to the DOJ, Wray could face a fine and up to a year’s imprisonment if federal prosecutors take up the case. There are also other forms of recourse, including civil enforcement, according to the American Bar Association. As Republicans become increasingly wary of the FBI, with suspicions fueled by the recently released report by special counsel John Durham, some lawmakers are also talking about defunding the agency.
“Americans deserve the truth, and the Oversight Committee will continue to demand transparency from this nation’s chief law enforcement agency,” Comer said in his statement on Tuesday.