After months of what Republicans said was stonewalling, FBI Director Christopher Wray on Monday will hand over a subpoenaed document that may detail a Biden family bribery scheme.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) says the documents will be reviewed by both Republicans and Democrats on the committee which also includes ranking Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland.
An FBI whistleblower informed Congress about the documents which include allegations and possible evidence President Joe Biden engaged in a bribery conspiracy to alter U.S. policy in exchange for monetary gain for his family’s businesses while he served as vice president.
Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) demanded to see the document, and Comer subsequently issued a subpoena.
Comer announced June 1 that he would hold Wray in contempt of Congress after months of Comer. He spoke about a conversation that he and Grassley had with Wray and about the bureau’s lack of compliance with his congressional subpoena.
Questioned why the lawmakers didn’t take advantage of the FBI director’s offer to see the document in a secured location, Comer said that the previous offer would allow the lawmakers access to only a redacted version of the document, which he said isn’t sufficient to support his committee’s oversight responsibility.
Comer said that his experience with getting documents from the FBI was that they were “all black,” that too much information was redacted for the document to be helpful.
“We knew what was in the 1023 form,” Comer said of his conversation with the FBI director. “Until we told Director Wray that, he never even admitted that the form existed.”
As to the reason why his committee is adamant about having access to the document, Comer said, “The reason we find this allegation credible [is] not only because of the credibility of the whistleblower but because we’ve seen a pattern of Joe Biden when he was vice president, leaving a country after he talks about foreign aid and foreign policy, and his family members start receiving payments.”
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena to the FBI on May 3 for a file containing allegations that a whistleblower linked Biden to a “criminal scheme” involving money for policy decisions while he was vice president.
Up to 10 Biden family members are also alleged to have received money from foreign sources.
“We have received legally protected and highly credible unclassified whistleblower disclosures,” Comer and Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, said in a letter (pdf) to Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland on May 3.
“Based on those disclosures, it has come to our attention that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) possess an unclassified FD-1023 form that describes an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.”
In early May, the House Oversight Committee released a report alleging that Biden family members and associates received over $10 million from foreign entities.
–Wire services
