FBI Director Christopher Wray will testify to the House Oversight Committee on May 31 about an internal document purportedly showing that President Joe Biden engaged in an alleged criminal scheme with a foreign national.
Specifically, the document alleges that Biden took a bribe from a foreign national while serving as vice president.
Comer said after a May 22 meeting that the FBI had again refused demands to turn it over.
In response to the FBI’s continued refusals, Comer has threatened to hold Wray in contempt of Congress. Wray’s agreement to testify, Comer said, doesn’t change that fact if the agency refuses to turn over the document.
‘They Don’t Respect Anyone in Congress’
Comer said that the FBI’s continued refusal to comply with the subpoena demonstrates a lack of respect for Congress.“They don’t respect anyone in Congress,” Comer said. “They’ve been able to get away with this for a long time. The media continues to turn a blind eye. The Senate Republicans continue to fund the FBI. So why would you change your business model when you’re getting everything you want?”
The key to success, Comer said, is to gain more Senate support. Republicans in the upper chamber have largely been less critical of the FBI than their lower chamber counterparts.
“What we’re going to have to do in this House is demand that the Senators get our backs—like they are doing as we speak with these debt ceiling negotiations—and hold their budget hostage until they get new leadership at the FBI or they produce the documents that we want.”
Democrats have dismissed Comer’s inquiry—and larger GOP inquiries into the FBI and DOJ—as partisan.
The White House called Comer’s inquiry an “unfounded politically-motivated [attack].”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) echoed this criticism, accusing Comer of “recycling unsubstantiated claims.” He called the inquiry “a baseless partisan stunt.”
The FBI declined to comment on the forthcoming meeting but said it was committed to working with Congress.
‘Serious Abuses’
The confrontation comes as House Republicans ramp up their investigations into allegations of “serious abuses“ by the FBI and DOJ, mounting a probe into the weaponization of the federal government.One whistleblower told the House Judiciary Committee that the agency had become “enveloped in politicization and weaponization.”
Among other charges, whistleblower reports claim that the FBI has targeted pro-life and Christian communities, creating a “threat tag” for these groups.
In another case, the FBI allegedly aided and abetted criminal behavior. As many as 12 FBI agents allegedly participated in a 2021 plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, masterminding and encouraging other men to carry out the plan.
The FBI came under even more scrutiny in the wake of the agency mounting a raid on the home of former President Donald Trump, an unprecedented move. The raid allegedly was due to Trump’s possession of classified documents.
Efforts to Remove Wray
Amid these allegations, Wray has become a key GOP target.After announcing his 2024 presidential bid on May 24, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he'd remove Wray if elected president.
“I would not keep Chris Wray as director of the FBI,” he told Fox News. “There’ll be a new one on day one.”
“The DOJ and FBI have lost their way,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis agreed with other Republicans that the agency had been “weaponized against Americans who think like me and you. And I think they’ve become very partisan.”
“Director Wray has failed to uphold his oath and has instead overseen a denigration of the principles of our democratic republic by utilizing the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a Federal police force to punish or intimidate anyone who questions or opposes the current regime,” Greene wrote in the articles of impeachment.
If Comer were to move ahead with his threat to hold Wray in contempt, he would first need to win committee support to advance the criminal charge recommendation. If advanced through committee, it would go to the House floor for a vote.
Ultimately, it would be up to Attorney General Merrick Garland to pursue criminal charges.
In replies to Epoch Times inquiries about these allegations, the FBI has repeatedly denied misconduct, saying that the agency prides itself on nonpartisan behavior.
