WASHINGTON (AP) – The years-long feud between congressional Republicans and the FBI is reaching a new level of rancor as lawmakers prepare a resolution to hold bureau director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress.
Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has scheduled a committee vote for Thursday morning on the contempt resolution against Wray. He says the FBI has failed to comply with a subpoena for an FBI record documenting an unverified tip about President Joe Biden.
The resolution to hold Wray in contempt, which would have to be approved by the full House, is just the latest Republican about-face against the FBI. They accuse the office of harboring bias against conservatives dating back to Donald Trump’s presidency and allege the office is now limiting legitimate congressional oversight.
Releasing the document in question, FBI officials have warned, would jeopardize the safety of the confidential human source who received the unverified information.
What you need to know about the confrontation between Republicans and the FBI:
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THE CITATION
Comer issued a subpoena to Wray on May 3 after Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa received a complaint from a whistleblower. They said they were told the office has a document that “describes an alleged criminal scheme” involving Biden and a foreigner “related to the exchange of money for political decisions” when Biden was vice president.
“The document has been alleged to include a precise description of how the alleged criminal scheme was used, as well as its purpose,” Comer and Grassley wrote in a letter to Wray.
Both have said they don’t know if the information is true, but insist the allegations warrant further investigation. The White House has accused Republicans of “anonymous insinuations.”
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WHAT IS THE DOCUMENT IN QUESTION?
The document Republicans are focusing on is what’s known as Form FD-1023, which federal agents use to record tips and information they receive from confidential human sources. The FBI says these documents may contain unsubstantiated and incomplete information, and that filing a tip does not validate the information.
The Biden document was written by a longtime FBI source that both Republicans and Democrats have called credible. In it, the source details an unverified tip received in 2020 about business dealings between Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, in Ukraine. Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company.
At the time, then-Attorney General William Barr told reporters he was cautious about information coming out of Ukraine. The House impeached then-President Donald Trump in 2020 over his push for the Ukrainian government to investigate the Bidens.
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WHY DO REPUBLICANS WANT THE RECALL?
House Republicans have used their power in the majority to aggressively investigate Joe Biden and Hunter Biden’s business dealings, including examining foreign payments and other aspects of the family’s finances. Since January, Comer has obtained thousands of pages of financial records from members of the Biden family through subpoenas to the Treasury Department and various financial institutions.
In the contempt ruling against Wray, the Oversight Committee says foreign payments to members of the Biden family could have national security implications. He said he needs the FBI record as he considers whether legislation is needed to address “deficiencies” in financial disclosure requirements that apply to presidents, vice presidents and their families.
The committee also requests that the FBI record be provided without redaction. The form seen by Comer contained “a significant amount of information highly relevant to the committee’s investigation” that was withheld, the committee said, including the names of people who could be subpoenaed as witnesses.
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WHY IS THE FBI REFUSING TO RELEAS THE DOCUMENT?
The bureau has rejected Comer’s threats to disparage Wray and has warned of serious risk to confidential human sources and the law enforcement process if the FBI record is released to the public.
“Protecting identities and information provided by confidential human sources from unnecessary disclosure or undue influence is therefore critical not only for security concerns, but also to prevent their candor or willingness to continue reporting to the FBI,” Christopher Dunham, an acting FBI assistant. director, wrote to Comer last month.
In an attempt to comply with the subpoena, FBI officials went to the Capitol on Monday to brief Comer and Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the panel’s top Democrat, about the document. The briefing, which the bureau described as an “extraordinary accommodation,” lasted more than an hour and was held privately in a secure space because FBI officials said the form “various pages” contain sensitive information.
Both Raskin and Comer were given a lightly redacted copy of the FD-1023 during the briefing and were allowed to take notes on the substance of the form, although they were not allowed to keep it.
Frank Montoya, a former FBI supervisor specializing in counterintelligence, said he was concerned that giving information about law enforcement sources to Congress could set a dangerous precedent and damage the FBI’s work.
“Who’s going to want to come in and tell you things if your identity can’t be protected,” especially in high-profile investigations, he said.
Beyond that, Montoya said, distributing to Congress information that could theoretically be relevant to an ongoing investigation risks impeding it. “If I’m working on a case and you’re putting all my information online, in the newspapers or on the evening news … to make a political point, any chance I have of bringing that case” is at risk, Montoya said.
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WHAT’S NEXT?
Comer said the FBI’s briefing on the dossier was not a substitute for providing an unredacted copy to the committee. He said he will move forward Thursday by holding Wray in contempt of Congress.
“The investigation is not dead,” Comer told reporters. “This is just the beginning.”
The first step in the contempt process will be the committee’s vote to send the resolution to the House. If the House passes that resolution and holds Wray in contempt, it would be up to the Department of Justice, where Wray works, to decide whether to prosecute him.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters he would file a contempt resolution against Wray as early as next week.
Successful congressional contempt suits are rare, though not unheard of. Steve Bannon, a former ally of former President Donald Trump, was convicted by a jury on contempt charges last year after a January 6 House committee referral.
There are also precedents for contempt charges against senior Justice Department officials. House Republicans approved a contempt charge against then-Attorney General Eric Holder in 2012, though the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington declined to file a case.
The FBI says the contempt vote is “unwarranted” given that the bureau had “continuously demonstrated its commitment to accommodate the committee’s request” while protecting the safety of sources and the integrity of ongoing investigations.
The White House dismissed Comer’s impeachment drive as “another fact-free stunt” intended to “damage the president politically and gain media attention.”
