House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James R. Comer scrapped a Thursday meeting to hold the head of the FBI in contempt of Congress after securing more access to records related to accusations against President Joe Biden.
The committee announced late Wednesday that “the FBI caved under the threat of holding Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress” and all members of the panel would be able to review a record at the center of the dispute.
That accommodation fell short of Comer’s previous demand that the FBI hand over the unclassified record to the committee.
That record is a form Republicans say describes an alleged scheme involving “then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.” The FBI has cautioned lawmakers that those types of forms contain raw, unverified information.
The FBI also is making two additional documents referenced in the FD-1023 record available for review by Comer, R-Ky., and committee ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the committee announced.
“Allowing all Oversight Committee members to review this record is an important step toward conducting oversight of the FBI and holding it accountable to the American people,” Comer said in a news release.
Raskin in a news release said Comer spent weeks attacking the FBI despite the agency’s “extraordinary efforts to provide Committee Republicans the information they claim to seek.”
“Holding someone in contempt of Congress is among the most serious actions our Committee can take and it should not be weaponized to undermine the FBI,” Raskin said.
Earlier this week, Comer and Raskin received a briefing from the FBI, and the agency has allowed them to review the record.
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