The House Oversight Committee will begin the process of holding FBI director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress, committee chairman James Comer(R., Ky.) announced Monday, citing the bureau’s continued refusal to turn over a whistleblower document alleging President Biden’s involvement in a bribery scheme.
Comer said that FBI officials confirmed the credibility of the FBI-generated whistleblower document — which alleges that then-vice president Biden received $5 million as part of a bribery scheme — during a briefing in a secure SCIF on Capitol Hill on Monday.
The bureau agreed to privately brief Comer and ranking Democrat Jamie Raskin after the chairman threatened to hold Wray in contempt for refusing to turn over the document to the committee, but the concession does not appear to have assuaged Comer’s concerns.
“At the briefing, the FBI again refused to hand over the unclassified record to the custody of the House Oversight Committee,” Comer said. “And we will now initiate contempt of Congress hearings this Thursday.”
“Given the severity and complexity of the allegations contained within this record, Congress must investigate further,” Comer continued. “The investigation is not dead. This is only the beginning.”
Comer said that FBI officials confirmed during the briefing that the whistleblower document “has not been disproven and is currently being used in an ongoing investigation by a confidential human source who provided information about the vice president by being involved in a criminal bribery scheme is a trusted, highly credible informant who has been used by the FBI for over ten years and has been paid over 6 figures.”
Raskin, meanwhile, said the FBI did not have enough information to escalate its investigation into Biden based on the whistleblower’s account.
“What we’re talking about here is a confidential human source reporting a conversation with someone else. So we’re talking about is secondhand hearsay. And they did whatever investigative due diligence was called for in that assessment period, and they found no reason to escalate it from an assessment to a so-called preliminary investigation,” Raskin said.
The Biden family and their financial associates allegedly created a web of over 20 companies meant to conceal money received from foreign nations, the House Oversight Committee said in early May. Representative Nancy Mace (R., S.C.), a committee member, called the creation of such shell companies an act of “financial gymnastics” through which at least ten Biden family members reportedly received monetary payments, including Hunter Biden; James Biden; James Biden’s wife, Sara Jones Biden; the late Beau Biden’s wife, Hallie Biden; Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle; Hunter Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen; and “three children of the president’s son and the president’s brother.”
Representative Comer, who personally reviewed the document, told reporters that the scheme resembles “a pattern of bribery.” The “claims made in the document are consistent with what we found and disclosed to you all in Romania. It suggests a pattern of bribery where payments would be made through shell accounts and multiple banks,” the chairman said.
“There’s a term for that, it’s called money laundering,” Comer added. “So we feel that this accusation is consistent with a pattern that we’re seeing, frankly, in other countries.”
Under the Constitution, Congress has the power to compel members of executive agencies to compel witness testimony and the production of documents. However, if an individual refuses to comply with a subpoena issued by a congressional committee, the body can bring the matter to a vote on the chamber floor. If passed, civil and criminal penalties can be applied.
Contempt of Congress measures have successfully been introduced into the House periodically throughout recent decades. Steve Bannon, an advisor to President Donald Trump, defied a congressional subpoena issued by the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack and is currently working through the appeals process.
Among others, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Attorney General Eric Holder, and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross have all faced similar congressional citations.
Last Tuesday, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) threatened Wray with a House vote for contempt of Congress if the director failed to comply with Comer’s earlier request.
“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,” McCarthy said during an appearance on Fox News. “I personally called Director Wray and told him he needs to send that document. Today is the deadline.”
“We have jurisdiction over this. 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,” he added.
That Friday, the FBI released a statement defending Wray’s conduct.
“Director Wray has offered to produce the requested document, with limited redactions to protect the confidentiality and safety of sources, by bringing it to a secure location in the U.S. Capitol for the chair and ranking member to review,” the agency noted in an official statement adding the FBI “remains committed to cooperating with the committee in good faith.”