House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said Monday FBI officials revealed that an informant file alleging President Biden engaged in a bribery scheme during his vice presidency is part of an ongoing federal investigation that involves shell companies.
After viewing the document with Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, who disputed the Republican’s characterization of a probe, Mr. Comer said he will move forward with proceedings to hold FBI Director Christopher A. Wray in contempt for not turning over a physical copy of the file.
“FBI officials confirmed that the unclassified FBI generated record has not been disproven, and is currently being used in an ongoing investigation,” Mr. Comer told reporters following a briefing with the FBI at the Capitol.
He said the claims made in the document “are consistent with what we found and disclosed to you all in Romania. It suggests a pattern of bribery where payments would be made through shell accounts and multiple banks.”
“There’s a term for that, it’s called money laundering,” Mr. Comer said. “So we feel that this accusation is consistent with a pattern that we’re seeing, frankly, in other countries.”
Mr. Comer said the confidential FBI source “who provided information about then-Vice President Biden being involved in a criminal bribery scheme is a trusted, highly credible informant who has been used by the FBI for over 10 years and has been paid over six figures.”
When asked how the so-called 1023 form, which was subpoenaed by the committee last month, was related to an active FBI investigation, Mr. Comer said he believes the document is tied to the years-long U.S. Attorney’s probe of the president’s son Hunter Biden in Delaware.
“All I know is there’s an ongoing investigation. [The FBI] confirmed there’s an ongoing investigation using this information,” he said. “I assume that [the] ongoing investigation is in Delaware. I don’t know that, but I assume that.”
Mr. Raskin, Maryland Democrat, challenged Mr. Comer’s interpretation of the FBI briefing and the document, telling reporters afterward it was his understanding the document is not under active investigation. Pressed on that point, Mr. Raskin said, “I must have missed that because I’ve not heard that this is part of any ongoing investigation.”
He also asserted the allegations are “second-hand hearsay.” On Twitter, Mr. Raskin said Mr. Comer is engaged in an “aimless fishing expedition of the Biden administration.”
Mr. Comer and Mr. Raskin reviewed the FBI document detailing an informant’s claim that President Biden engaged in a scheme to take a bribe from a foreign national when he was vice president.
Mr. Comer announced the panel would initiate contempt hearings against Mr. Wray for refusing to hand over an unclassified FBI document to the committee.
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“At the briefing, the FBI again refused to hand over the unclassified record to the custody of the House Oversight Committee. And we will now initiate contempt of Congress hearings this Thursday,” Mr. Comer said. “Given the severity and complexity of the allegations contained within this record, Congress must investigate further. Americans have lost trust in the FBI’s ability to enforce the law partially and demand answers, transparency, and accountability.”
The FBI said the bureau has consistently cooperated with the committee’s request for information about the document’s contents and is just trying to maintain the necessary safeguards to protect its sources.
“The FBI has continually demonstrated its commitment to accommodate the committee’s request, including by producing the document in a reading room at the U.S. Capitol,” the FBI said in a statement to The Washington Times. “This commonsense safeguard is often employed in response to congressional requests and in court proceedings to protect important concerns, such as the physical safety of sources and the integrity of investigations. The escalation to a contempt vote under these circumstances is unwarranted.”
Mr. Comer says he wants to release the document to the public because he cannot trust the press to give accurate information about its contents or rely on the FBI to investigate it.
“The main reason [the FBI] is not wanting to make this public is because they’re concerned about … [a] highly credible source that has been with the bureau since the Obama administration,” he said.
Mr. Raskin said the FBI’s investigation into the 1023 form began under Trump Attorney General William Barr, and a determination was made by the same Justice Department that there were no grounds to continue the probe.
“Attorney General Barr named Scott Brady, who is the U.S. Attorney for Western Pennsylvania, to head up a group of prosecutors and FBI agents who would look into all of the allegations related to Ukraine,” Mr. Raskin said. “They decided there [were] no grounds to escalate this investigation. So if there’s a complaint, the complaint is with the Attorney General William Barr with the Trump Justice Department and the team that the Trump administration appointed to look into it.”
Mr. Raskin said the public release of the document would place confidential human sources in danger and said that he is amused by Republicans who are looking to hold Mr. Wray in contempt of Congress.
“Like all documents relating to all confidential human sources, it’s one that should not be released publicly because it could endanger the confidential human source,” Mr. Raskin said. “And then undermine our whole law enforcement system that the FBI has put into place.”
The Maryland Democrat cautioned that holding Mr. Wray in contempt could backfire on the Republicans who are seeking to use the tactic as leverage to force other Biden officials to honor their requests.
“I was on the Oversight Committee during the Trump administration when President Trump said he was not going to participate in any way with any legislative oversight activities at all and ordered every federal department and division not to comply,” Mr. Raskin said.
“So if we had, at that point, the director of any agency or the FBI or the Attorney General, or anybody under the president, coming over-delivering us documents and explaining the meaning of those documents to us … we would have had a Mardi Gras parade about that because we were completely shut out.”
Mr. Comer has been in a weeks-long battle with the bureau demanding that the agency deliver the document.
According to the FBI, its agents use the FD-1023 form to record unverified reporting by a confidential human source.
“Documenting the information does not validate it, establish its credibility or weigh it against other information verified by the FBI,” the bureau said, adding that revealing unverified or possibly incomplete information could “harm investigations.”
The agency stressed that it continually demonstrated its commitment to work in good faith with the committee to accommodate its request.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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