Eleven hours before the House Oversight Committee would assemble to vote on holding FBI Director Wray in Contempt of Congress, the FBI agreed to permit members of the Oversight Committee to review an unclassified informant file that allegedly links President Joe Biden to a $5 million bribery scheme.
Wednesday evening, Comer canceled the 9 a.m. Thursday vote to hold Wray in contempt. In exchange, the FBI finally agreed to allow the members to review the document, a demand on which Comer insisted from nearly the beginning of the negotiations.
“After weeks of refusing to even admit the FD-1023 record exists,” the committee stated in a press release, “the FBI has caved and is now allowing all members of the Oversight and Accountability Committee to review this unclassified record that memorializes a confidential human source’s conversations with a foreign national who claimed to have bribed then-Vice President Joe Biden.”
🚨BREAKING🚨
@RepJamesComer forces the FBI to cooperate!
The FBI will allow all members of our committee to review the Biden bribery record and receive a briefing.
We will continue to follow the facts and ensure accountability for the American people.— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) June 8, 2023
In May, Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) levied bombshell claims after reviewing an FBI FD-1023 form that documented the informant’s allegations of an alleged bribery scheme involving an exchange of money for policy decisions between now-President Joe Biden and a foreign national.
The FBI’s informant file allegedly linked Joe Biden to the family’s business deals in Ukraine, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) revealed Tuesday.
The FBI file originated from an interview the bureau conducted with an informant, who is reportedly a “highly credible” FBI source with a history dating back to the Barack Obama administration.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies before the House Appropriations subcommittee Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies budget hearing for Fiscal Year 2024, on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
“Allowing all Oversight Committee members to review this record is an important step toward conducting oversight of the FBI and holding it accountable to the American people,” the committee added.
On Tuesday, former Attorney General Bill Barr dispelled the White House and House Oversight Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin’s (D-MD) claim that the Justice Department ended the bribery probe. Raskin argued the Trump administration resolved an informant’s claims.
“Let’s be clear: the allegations contained within this record are not closed as the White House and Democrats would have the American people believe,” the committee wrote. “Former Attorney General Barr confirmed this information was sent to the U.S. Attorney in Delaware for further investigation and the FBI has confirmed it is being used in an ongoing investigation.”
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
