The FBI again refused to comply Monday with House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer’s subpoena for a document that allegedly details a pay-to-play scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden.
The bureau’s latest refusal to turn over the unclassified FD-1023 document detailing an informant’s criminal allegations against Biden, 80, came during a briefing between the Oversight Committee and FBI staff.
Comer (R-Ky.) is expected to reveal the panel’s next steps in the quest for the document sometime this week.
Congress has the power to cut funding to federal agencies or use litigation to enforce subpoenas.
The Republican-led House of Representatives also could move to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt or begin impeachment proceedings in an effort to apply pressure.
Comer previously set a May 10 deadline for the bureau to comply with the request for the FD-1023 document, which reportedly relates to bribery allegations involving Biden in a country where the family had two major business ventures. A source familiar with the matter previously told The Post the country is not China.
The FBI’s Biden file is said to have been created or modified in June 2020, and its existence was first disclosed by a whistleblower to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who alerted Comer.
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In addition to China, first son Hunter Biden and first brother James Biden had dealings in Mexico, Romania, Russia and Ukraine while Joe Biden was vice president.
The FBI responded to Comer’s subpoena by delivering a six-page letter to the committee raising various objections to the request.
The bureau argues that the information contained in the document is from “confidential human” informants and must be kept private to protect sources who work with the agency. The FBI also says the information is “unverified” and a”significant amount” is “already available” publicly.
In a letter sent to Wray last week, Comer called the FBI’s delay in producing the FD-1023 form “unacceptable.”
The Oversight Committee leader also argued that the substance of the Biden complaint “has not been provided in any of the materials cited by the FBI or publicly reported. And even if it had been, that would not excuse the FBI’s legal duty to comply with the subpoena.”
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Sunday that he felt confident that Wray would hand over the document after he spoke to him on the phone Friday.
“I explained to the director that we will do everything in our power and we have the jurisdiction over the FBI and we have the right to see this document,” he said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures”. “I believe after this call, we will get this document.”
