News/Commentary

FBI still declines to hand over document on alleged Biden ‘bribery.’ Now what?

May 31, 2023 | | Print Article

The top House Oversight Committee Republican is moving forward with holding FBI Director Chris Wray in contempt of Congress after the Bureau failed to hand over a potentially explosive document alleged to implicate President Joe Biden in a “criminal scheme” involving a bribe from a foreign national.

On Tuesday, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) who chairs the powerful committee reacted to the FBI’s refusal to comply with a deadline for the single unclassified document that the Republicans have been seeking based on information provided by a whistleblower which is said to be evidence that Biden, then Barack Obama’s vice president, is implicated in a $5 million bribery scheme with the unnamed foreign actor.

“Today, the FBI informed the Committee that it will not provide the unclassified documents subpoenaed by the Committee,” Comer said in a statement. “The FBI’s decision to stiff-arm Congress and hide this information from the American people is obstructionist and unacceptable.”

“While I have a call scheduled with FBI Director Wray tomorrow to discuss his response further, the 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,” he added.

“Americans deserve the truth, and the Oversight Committee will continue to demand transparency from this nation’s chief law enforcement agency,” Chairman Comer said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy took a break from his work on his much-maligned debt ceiling deal with Biden to drop by Fox News where he said that Wray isn’t above the law.

“I have a message for FBI Director Christopher Wray: If he misses today’s deadline to turn over subpoenaed documents to Congress, I am prepared to move contempt charges against him,” the Speaker said on Twitter along with a clip of his Fox News appearance.

“Today is the deadline. So let me not just tell you, let me tell Director Christopher Wray right here, right now. If he misses the deadline today, I’m prepared to move contempt charges in Congress against him. We have jurisdiction over this,” McCarthy said. “He can send us that document. We have the right to look at that, Republicans and Democrats alike in that committee, and if he does not follow through with the law, we will move contempt charges against Christopher Wray and the FBI. They are not above the law.”

The FBI told Fox News Digital that it “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 told the outlet. “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.”

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Chris Donaldson
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