WASHINGTON — House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., announced Monday that his panel would begin proceedings to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress.
The decision came after the FBI briefed Comer and Oversight Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., on Capitol Hill on Monday and offered them the opportunity to review a document that allegedly outlines an allegation that Joe Biden allegedly accepted a bribe. as vice president.
Then speaking to reporters outside the secure briefing site, Comer said “the FBI again refused to release the unclassified file into the custody” of the committee. “And we will now be launching contempt of Congress hearings this Thursday.”
“FBI officials have confirmed that the unclassified file generated by the FBI has not been refuted and is currently being used in an ongoing investigation,” Comer said.
Raskin told reporters he was unaware of an ongoing investigation, but said he was “unaware” of certain information available to Comer. He said he was aware there had been reports released of an ongoing investigation in Delaware by the US attorney regarding Hunter Biden.
Comer had subpoenaed the FBI last month to obtain the FBI document, called FD-1023, which he and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa said, describes an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden “relating to the ‘exchange of money’. for political decisions.” Comer alleged that the scheme involved a $5 million payment of a foreign national in exchange for a political result.
Raskin said Monday that the FBI team provided context for the document, saying former Attorney General William Barr appointed Scott Brady, then U.S. Attorney for Western Pennsylvania, to look into Rudy Giuliani’s allegations. Raskin said the investigation is complete.
“So if there’s a complaint, the complaint goes to Attorney General William Barr, the Trump Department of Justice, and the team that the Trump administration has appointed to review it,” Raskin said.
The FBI and Brady reviewed the allegation when it was made in 2020 along with other information about Biden’s son Hunter Biden’s dealings in Ukraine, a senior law enforcement official said Friday. The allegation of corruption, however, was not substantiated, according to the official.
The White House has criticized the investigations, arguing that the probes are politically motivated and designed to hurt Biden’s re-election chances.
Comer has previously threatened to despise Wray for the document after the FBI refused to provide it. An FBI official told Comer in a letter last month that Justice Department policy “strictly limits when and how confidential human source information may be provided outside of the FBI.”
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com