On Thursday, House Republicans were prepared to vote on charging FBI Director Christopher Wray with contempt of Congress due to the bureau’s prolonged non-compliance with a congressional subpoena. However, it seems that both Republicans and the FBI showed signs of hesitation at the last minute.
On Wednesday, the FBI made the decision to grant the House Oversight Committee complete access to the document that contains information regarding alleged criminal activities involving President Joe Biden.
In response to the FBI’s decision, Chairman James Comer (R-KY) of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability opted to remove the scheduled vote for holding Wray in contempt from Thursday’s agenda.
Earlier in the day, the House Oversight Committee had issued a resolution and a corresponding report, recommending that the House of Representatives consider holding Wray in contempt of Congress. A vote on the matter was scheduled for Thursday morning.
Comer made a statement saying, “We have been clear that the FBI must produce the unclassified FD-1023 record to the custody of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. To date, the FBI has refused to comply with our lawfully issued subpoena and even refused to admit the record’s existence up until a week ago.”
In early May, Congressional Republicans issued a subpoena to the FBI, seeking a document that potentially holds evidence of an alleged criminal scheme involving President Biden. Additionally, according to Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the document may shed light on corrupt dealings in Ukraine.
In a letter dated May 3, Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) addressed Attorney General Merrick Garland and Wray. They highlighted that the form contains, “valuable, verifiable information” that outlines an alleged criminal scheme.
The scheme allegedly involves then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national, relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.
The FBI failed to meet multiple deadlines, including the original deadline on May 10 and a subsequent deadline on May 30. On Monday, the bureau presented the document to Comer and Raskin in a secure room. However, House Republicans remained dissatisfied, emphasizing that the FBI had not yet fulfilled the requirements outlined in the May subpoena.
🚨James Comer threatens FBI Dir Wray with PRISON for hiding docs proving Biden crimes:
"I wouldn't want to be held in contempt and end up in prison being the former head of the FBI… Just hand the document over!"
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 7, 2023
Shortly after Comer released his resolution on Wednesday, emphasizing the importance of holding the federal government accountable, the FBI made a proposal to provide every committee member access to a redacted version of the FD-1023 record, as reported by the Associated Press.
Comer responded by saying, “After weeks of refusing to even admit the FD-1023 record exists, the FBI has caved and is now allowing all members of the Oversight and Accountability Committee to review this unclassified record that memorializes a confidential human source’s conversations with a foreign national who claimed to have bribed then-Vice President Joe Biden.”
