The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has demanded that the FBI release documents pertaining to an alleged bribery scheme during Joe Biden's VP term under President Barack Obama, and the FBI has since refused to comply.
"Oversight Committee will now take steps to hold FBI Director Wray in contempt of Congress," reads a statement from the Committee.
The Committee issued a subpoena compelling the FBI to turn over those documents, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday morning threatened FBI director Christopher Wray with charges of contempt of Congress were he not to turn over the requested materials.
Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said that the FBI's refusal is "obstructionist and unacceptable."
“Today," Comer said, "the FBI informed the Committee that it will not provide the unclassified documents subpoenaed by the Committee. 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. Americans deserve the truth, and the Oversight Committee will continue to demand transparency from this nation’s chief law enforcement agency.”
Comer and McCarthy have a call scheduled with Wray on Wednesday. McCarthy has said outright that the House has jurisdiction over the FBI.
On May 3, Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley issued the subpoena to Biden's AG Merrick Garland regarding whistleblower disclosures showing that the FBI and DOJ hold documents regarding an alleged bribery scheme undertaken between Biden and a foreign national during his VP term.
"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."
"It has been alleged that the document includes a precise description of how the alleged criminal scheme was employed as well as its purpose," the letter continued.
Comer and Grassley believe that "the DOJ and the FBI have enough information to determine the truth and accuracy of the information contained within it."
"The significant public interest in assessing the FBI’s response to this information, as well as growing concern about the DOJ and the FBI’s track record of allowing political bias to infect their decision-making process, necessitate exacting congressional oversight," they wrote in the subpoena.
"The DOJ and the FBI appear to have valuable, verifiable information that you have failed to disclose to the American people," they wrote, before indicating that there must be "an independent and objective review of this matter, free from those agencies’ influence."
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