House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer will review the document he and his panel subpoenaed from the FBI alleging that then-Vice President Joe Biden engaged in a criminal bribery scheme with a foreign national.
According to a committee spokeswoman, Mr. Comer, Kentucky Republican, will receive a briefing from the FBI in a sensitive information facility on Capitol Hill on Monday when he reviews the document, an unclassified 1023 form.
The GOP lawmaker, however, has not relented in demanding that the bureau deliver the file he and his fellow committee Republicans asked for last month that could implicate President Biden and advance contempt charges against FBI Director Christopher A. Wray if the bureau doesn’t comply.
“Chairman Comer has been clear that anything short of producing the FD-1023 form to the House Oversight Committee is not in compliance with his subpoena,” the Republican committee spokeswoman told The Washington Times. “This unclassified record contains pages of details that need to be investigated further by the House Oversight Committee.”
In a statement to The Washington Times, the FBI said Mr. Wray has offered to “produce the requested document, with limited redactions to protect the confidentiality and safety of sources, by bringing it to a secure location in the U.S. Capitol for the chair and ranking member to review.”
The FBI said it has “continually demonstrated its commitment to working with the committee to accommodate its request, from scheduling briefings and calls to now allowing the chair and ranking member to review information in person.”
The bureau added, “By offering to provide access to the requested document in combination with a briefing to offer context, the FBI has agreed in good faith to give the committee all of the information it originally asked for and more.”
Mr. Comer and Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa on Wednesday confirmed after a phone call with Mr. Wray the existence of the FBI document that the bureau had denied was genuine.
However, Mr. Wray offered the two GOP lawmakers and the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the opportunity to see the document in person at FBI headquarters and not produce it.
This response from the FBI escalated matters. Mr. Comer rejected that offer, warning that he was still preparing contempt charges if Mr. Wray refused to turn over the document.
The FBI said that Mr. Wray offered on the call to provide Mr. Comer and Mr. Raskin an opportunity to “review information responsive to the subpoena in a secure manner to accommodate the committee, while protecting the confidentiality and safety of sources and important investigative sensitivities.”
The FBI said its agents use the FD-1023 form to record unverified reporting by a confidential human source. “Documenting the information does not validate it, establish its credibility or weigh it against other information verified by the FBI,” the bureau said, adding that revealing unverified or possibly incomplete information could “harm investigations.”
The FBI stressed that it continually demonstrated its commitment to work in good faith with the committee to accommodate its request.
Mr. Comer had promised to advance a contempt resolution against Mr. Wray after he missed the first deadline to turn over the subpoenaed records his committee requested. He has said he would not let the FBI “stiff-arm” Congress’ pursuit of records about a criminal scheme involving Mr. Biden.
According to Mr. Comer, the document is based on a tip from an informant on June 30, 2020. A whistleblower told Mr. Grassley about the file on Mr. Biden.
The FBI had cited concerns about informant confidentiality with regard to the document and said its information had not been verified.
But Mr. Grassley said in a statement that while the FBI apparently “leaked classified information” to the media in recent weeks and “jeopardized its own human sources,” the “bureau continues to treat Congress like second-class citizens by refusing to provide a specific unclassified record.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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