House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has issued a contempt of Congress resolution against FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday for failing to fully comply with a subpoena, as the panel will vote on the matter on Thursday.
“Having exhausted all available options to obtain compliance, the Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman recommends that the House of Representatives hold Principal Wray in contempt for failing to comply with the subpoena issued to him,” the committee said in a 17 – Report page that accompanies the resolution.
The subpoena, which arrived last month, referred to an internal document that House Republicans believe is key to an evolving partisan investigation involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national. When the FBI declined on policy grounds, it instead provided Comer and Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland with a briefing to review the document on Monday. But Comer argued Wednesday that the FBI had not complied with the subpoena.
“To date, the FBI has refused to comply with our lawfully issued subpoena and even refused to admit the existence of the record until a week ago,” Comer said in a statement accompanying the ruling. “The case is not closed as the White House, the Democrats and the FBI would have the American people believe.”
The Kentucky Republican, along with Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, sent a letter to Wray on May 3 detailing what they characterized as “highly credible unclassified whistleblower disclosures” implicating Biden. In the letter, they said they had been informed that the FBI had in its possession a document used to record accounts of sources describing an “alleged criminal scheme” involving Biden and a foreign national “related to the exchange of money for decisions policies” during Biden’s time as vice president.
The FBI generally does not share information about claims it is investigating, nor does it comment on unsubstantiated or discredited allegations in order to protect its sources or spread unsubstantiated and harmful misinformation. Comer did not provide any indication of the source of the claims or evidence that the possible accusations contained in said document are true.
But the office made what it called an “extraordinary arrangement” and brought a partially redacted version of the document in question to a secure facility on Capitol Hill on Monday for Comer and Raskin to view.
While Comer was not satisfied after the meeting, Raskin said officials told them at the briefing that the document went back to the Trump administration’s Department of Justice, which had investigated the claims and decided there was no reason to escalate the case. report from an “evaluation” to a “preliminary investigation.” He told reporters that the document contained what he described as “second-hand hearsay.”
On Wednesday, when Comer released his statement on the resolution, Raskin reiterated in a statement that lawmakers were “repeatedly told by the FBI” that the Trump Justice Department “concluded that it had not found sufficient evidence to warrant an investigation.” further investigation”.