House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., warned he will hit FBI Director Christopher Wray with a contempt charge if he missed a subpoena deadline to turn over a classified document showing President Joe Biden's alleged involvement in a $5 million bribery scheme.
And House Oversight Chair James Comer, R-Ky., said Wray's "stiff-arming" oversight is going to start the process for a contempt of Congress charge for the FBI director.
"Today, the FBI informed the Committee that it will not provide the unclassified documents subpoenaed by the committee," Comer wrote in a statement Tuesday. "The FBI's decision to stiff-arm Congress and hide this information from the American people is obstructionist and unacceptable.
"While I have a call scheduled with FBI Director Wray [Wednesday] to discuss his response further, the committee has been clear in its intent to protect Congressional oversight authorities and will now be taking steps to hold the FBI director in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a lawful subpoena.
"Americans deserve the truth, and the Oversight Committee will continue to demand transparency from this nation’s chief law enforcement agency."
In an earlier TV interview, McCarthy declared, "We have jurisdiction over the FBI, they seem to act like we do not," transcript of the remarks to Fox News showed.
"I personally called Director Wray and told him to send the document, today is the deadline," McCarthy asserted.
"Let me [say], Christopher Wray, right here, right now, I will move contempt charges against him," he said. "He can send the document.
"We have a right to look at that, Republicans and Democrats alike. If he does not follow through with the law, we will move contempt charges against Christopher Wray. They are not above the law."
Comer is seeking an informant file from the FBI, which purportedly links Biden to a $5 million bribery scheme while he was vice president. The informant tip is dated June 30, 2020.
Staff for Comer, who is leading the investigation into "influence-peddling" by the first family, met with bureau officials one week ago who refused to hand over the file, according to the New York Post.
Comer at that time had narrowed the scope of the subpoena to include the terms "June 30, 2020" and "five million," the news outlet noted.
According to the Washington Times, Comer and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, will speak to the FBI director by phone Wednesday.
The Oversight Committee has not confirmed the country where Biden allegedly accepted the bribe as vice president; the New York Post previously reported the allegation is not believed to deal with China, where the Biden family had two lucrative ventures.
McCarthy, pressed Monday on the bribery document issue — and whether Wray reportedly called the document unverified and speculative — said he had "a conversation" with Wray.
"I'm part of the Gang of Eight," McCarthy said, according to transcript. "I told him he could redact names and others and we wouldn't know method."
But McCarthy insisted: "We have a right to see it. He does not have a right to choose what he shows us. We oversee the FBI. If he thinks differently, there will be a contempt charge."
"There is enough problems in the FBI, and I will not sit back and allow him to ignore this," McCarthy continued. "We will get this document. He has not denied the document is not there. He knows there is a document, and we have a responsibility to see it."
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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