House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) has charged FBI Director Christopher Wray with contempt of Congress if he does not turn in intelligence files related to President Joe Biden and the $5 million bribery plot by Tuesday’s deadline. I plan to file a lawsuit.
An informant file is a non-classified document that is a record of an interview conducted by the FBI with an informant. The document purportedly details an arrangement involving the exchange of money for policymaking between current President Biden and Mr. foreigner.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R, Kentucky) subpoenaed the files, but the FBI did not respond. The Justice Department has not denied the existence of records.
McCarthy: I have a message for FBI Director Christopher Wray. Posted on Twitter. “If he fails to meet today’s deadline to submit the subpoena to Congress, I am prepared to bring a contempt charge against him.”
I have a message for FBI Director Christopher Wray. If he misses today’s deadline to submit the subpoena to Congress, I am prepared to file a contempt charge against him. pic.twitter.com/D3hyW3VIpX
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) May 30, 2023
The FBI told reporters it was hesitant to release the documents because they contained classified information.
“The FBI’s mission is to protect the American people,” the FBI said last week. “Releasing information from classified sources can jeopardize investigations and potentially endanger lives. The FBI remains committed to cooperating with Congressional oversight requests.”
To reduce FBI exposure, Mr. Kummer narrowed the scope of subpoenas to obtain the documents.
Comer wrote to Ray last week:
The FBI’s refusal to produce this single document is obstructionist. Nonetheless, in order to narrow the scope of the subpoena, based on unconfidential and legally protected whistleblower disclosures that may be referenced on Form FD-1023, “June 30, 2020. We provide the additional conditions of ‘days’ and ‘5 million’.
On Monday, Democrats defended the FBI’s obstruction, calling an informant file “not even a molehill.”
“It just seems ridiculous to me that you disrespect the FBI director over a hint sheet that someone supposedly submitted to the FBI,” said House Oversight Ranking member Jamie Ruskin, Democrat-Mary. Rand) said. Said Punchbowl news. “[Comer is] We build mountains out of things that aren’t even molehills. ”
Oversight Committee member Rep. Jerry Connolly (D-VA) called Mr. Comer’s efforts to impose transparency an “attack” on the agency. “This is part of an attack on the FBI launched by Republicans fueled by President Trump’s hatred of the FBI,” he said.
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Senate Judiciary Committee
Follow Wendell Hussebo twitter @WendellHusebø.he is the author of The Politics of Slave Morality.
