FBI Fails to Comply With GOP Subpoena for Document Showing Alleged Biden Bribery Scheme

House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and other Republican members of the committee hold a news conference to present preliminary findings into their investigation into President Joe Biden's family on May 10, 2023, in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The FBI has failed to comply with a House Oversight and Accountability Committee subpoena for a document that allegedly implicates President Joe Biden in a pay-to-play bribery scheme.

Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) issued the subpoena to FBI Director Christopher Wray on May 3 after a whistleblower disclosed the existence of the alleged incriminating document—an FD-1023 form, which is typically a report from an informant—to Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) office.

The FBI was given until noon on May 10 to turn over all FD-1023 forms created or modified in June 2020 that contain the word “Biden” to the committee.

However, according to Comer, the FBI declined to comply with the committee’s order.

“It’s clear from the FBI’s response that the unclassified record the Oversight Committee subpoenaed exists, but they are refusing to provide it to the committee,” Comer said in a statement. “We’ve asked the FBI to not only provide this record, but to also inform us what it did to investigate these allegations. The FBI has failed to do both.

“The FBI’s position is ‘trust, but you aren’t allowed to verify,’” the chairman added. “That is unacceptable. We plan to follow up with the FBI and expect compliance with the subpoena.”

Grassley also expressed frustration over the FBI’s lack of compliance, noting: “While the FBI has failed to produce the specific document by the subpoena deadline, their offer to provide an accommodation process in response to our legitimate request indicates the document is real. So, the question remains, what did the FBI do to investigate very serious allegations from an apparent trusted FBI source implicating then-Vice President Biden?”

According to Grassley, the FBI’s response—which came in the form of a letter on May 10—also raised questions as to whether the bureau has an open investigation into the allegations against Biden.

“The American people pay the FBI’s salaries, and they’re entitled to a fulsome response,” he noted.

The FBI did not return The Epoch Times’ request for comment.

New Evidence

At a press conference held earlier that day, Comer referenced the subpoena and approaching deadline, noting that the committee was going to “let the ball be in the FBI’s court” on how they would proceed.

“If the FBI for some reason does not comply with our subpoena, then Sen. Grassley and I will discuss the next step,” Comer said.

The press briefing was held to present new evidence the Oversight and Accountability Committee had discovered in its probe of the Biden family’s alleged “influence peddling.”

Chief among the committee’s revelations was the fact that members of the Biden family had received more than $10 million in payments from foreign entities, and many of those payments were made during Biden’s time as vice president.

“From a historical standpoint, we’ve never seen a presidential family receive these sums of money from adversaries around the world,” Comer said.

The transactions reported by the committee did not directly involve any of the president’s bank accounts but were channeled through more than 20 companies established by nine of his family members, including one of his grandchildren, in a pattern Comer said was “not normal.”

Noting that the payment also often seemed to correlate with Biden’s work as vice president, the chairman added: “We believe the president has been involved in this from the beginning, obviously. We’re going to continue to look. … And we can tell you from the people that we’re meeting with that were involved with many of the schemes that we’re pretty confident that the president was very knowledgeable about what his family was doing.”

Administration Pushes Back

On May 9, Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations tore into Comer’s credibility in a statement, calling the upcoming press conference a “political stunt.”

“Congressman Comer has a history of playing fast and loose with the facts and spreading baseless innuendo while refusing to conduct his so-called ‘investigations’ with legitimacy,” Sams said. “He has hidden information from the public to selectively leak and promote his own hand-picked narratives as part of his overall effort to lob personal attacks at the president and his family.”

Biden, meanwhile, has repeatedly denied any knowledge of his family members’ business dealings.

For instance, on Oct. 20, 2020, Biden was asked during a presidential debate whether his son Hunter’s business dealings with Ukraine and Russia had been improper. He responded: “My son has not made money in terms of this thing about, what are you talking about, China. I have not had—The only guy who made money from China is this guy [Donald Trump]. He’s the only one. Nobody else has made money from China.”

Comer, however, emphasized at the press conference that the Oversight and Accountability Committee had proven those claims to be false.

“That was a lie in 2020, and he continues to lie to the American people now,” the congressman said. “The Bidens have received millions of dollars from China. It is inconceivable the president didn’t know about it.”

Comer also noted that, despite attacks from Democrats, the committee would not be cowed from its investigation.

“With or without Democrats’ support, we will continue working to deliver the answers, transparency, and accountability that the American people deserve.”