James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, informed FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday that since he has missed a second deadline to provide the committee with the evidence it knows the FBI has, he will move to hold him in contempt.
Comer learned about the Biden bribery scheme that dates back to 2020 from whistleblowers with inside knowledge of it, and demanded that Wray provide confirming evidence directly from the FBI.
Wray refused.
Comer again demanded that Wray comply.
Wray again refused.
Yesterday, Comer informed Wray his committee would move to hold him in contempt:
Today, 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 [Wednesday, May 31] 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.
The bribery scheme, spelled out in detail by whistleblowers, involves Joe Biden, his son Hunter, and other Biden family members. The amount involved was $5 million, and the quid pro quo was the opportunity to influence White House “policy decisions.”
This is how Comer laid it out to Wray back in early May:
We have received legally protected and highly credible unclassified whistleblower disclosures.
Based on those disclosures, it has come to our attention that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and [your agency] 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 FD-1023 document is a form the FBI uses “to collect and catalog information … to record unverified reporting from a confidential human source … that is highly sensitive.”
Comer’s May 3 letter to Wray continued:
Based on the alleged specificity within the document, it would appear that the DOJ and the FBI have enough information to determine the truth and accuracy of the information contained within it.
However, it remains unclear what steps, if any, were taken to investigate the matter.
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.
The DOJ and the FBI appear to have valuable, verifiable information that you have failed to disclose to the American people.
Therefore, Congress will proceed to conduct an independent and objective review of this matter, free from those agencies’ influence.
Comer ended his letter to Wray with this: “Transparency brings accountability.”
However, Wray chose “Opacity suggests complicity,” and refused to provide the document demanded, or any information relating to how, if, or whether the agency did anything with that information.
It’s called stonewalling, or the guilty protecting the guilty.
In Comer’s second letter to Wray, dated May 24, he reminded Wray of the reasons for his initial demand for the damning FD-1023 form:
As previously stated, the whistleblower disclosures indicated that the FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) are in possession of an FD-1023 form describing an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.
That same day, the Committee also issued a subpoena requiring the production of: “[a]ll FD-1023 forms, including within any open, closed, or restricted access case files, created or modified in June 2020, containing the term ‘Biden,’ including all accompanying attachments and documents to those FD-1023 forms.”
Wray’s agency, in a number of telephone and in-person conversations with Comer’s committee staffers, said those “search terms” were too broad, that they would somehow put at risk the confidential sources providing the information. Comer’s staff accommodated Wray by limiting them, as stated in the May 24 letter:
The Committee is not seeking the identity of the CHS [confidential human sources] who provided the information to the FBI.
Furthermore, there are reasonable accommodations that would alleviate the FBI’s concerns about exposing CHS information, including appropriate redactions.
Comer limited the search terms to “June 30, 2020” and “five million” dollars.
Still, Wray and his agency refused to comply:
Instead of working with the Committee, the FBI has refused to even acknowledge whether the FD-1023 form exists.
And the agency has made no attempts to engage in a reasonable accommodation process.
The second deadline, May 30, came and went, and now Comer is moving to hold the FBI director in contempt.
The good news is that Comer’s committee has the power under the Constitution to demand this information from the FBI. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Fox & Friends on Wednesday:
We [Congress] 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.
That assumes that the law — the Constitution — still holds firm. But the Deep State’s infiltration and control of the Department of Justice raises serious doubts about any criminal charges being brought against Wray or his top brass, as they are all on the same corrupt team. Remember Attorney General Eric Holder and “Fast and Furious”?
Nevertheless, Rep. Tom McClintock, a Republican from California, holds out hope:
If a credible allegation of bribery against a president can be made, that is an impeachable offense, and the full powers of Congress [must] be invoked not only to hold obstructionists accountable, but also to compel production of the evidence.
Comer and Wray are scheduled to have that telephone conversation later today, and The New American will endeavor to keep its readers informed of any new developments.
