US lawmaker says drafting contempt charges against FBI director

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - US House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said Thursday he is drafting legislation to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress unless he hands over a document subpoenaed by lawmakers.

Comer said he expects a committee vote to take place next week, saying "the FBI continues to defy my lawful subpoena."

"The FBI is not above Congress. I will protect congressional oversight authorities," he said on Twitter.

Republicans allege the FD-1023 form implicates US President Joe Biden in wrongdoing as part of a bribery scheme with a foreign national while he was serving as vice president during the Obama administration. FD-1203 forms include allegations from a confidential FBI source that has not been corroborated.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, who wrote to Wray alongside Comer earlier this week seeking the form, told Fox News Thursday that the lawmakers “are not interested in whether or not the accusations against Vice President Biden are accurate or not. We are responsible for making sure the FBI does its job, and that’s what we want to know.”

“There’s no reason for an unclassified document to be held in secret,” he said.

Wray has so far declined to allow lawmakers to take the form, but has offered to allow them to review it in-person at the bureau's Washington, D.C. headquarters. Comer and Grassley have maintained that this is not sufficient.

Representative Jamie Raskin, Oversight's top Democrat, said Wednesday that he was prohibited by Comer from taking part in a call with Wray, and instead spoke with the FBI director after he spoke with Republicans.

In addition to allowing the interested lawmakers to view the document, Raskin said Wray informed him that the FBI "will also provide context on the Trump Justice Department’s steps to follow up on the unsubstantiated, second-hand claims contained in this tip."

"Despite these extraordinary accommodations—and the fact that Republicans have claimed to have access to the very information subpoenaed—Chairman Comer has continued to insist he will hold the FBI Director in contempt," Raskin said in a statement.

"It is increasingly clear that Committee Republicans have always planned to hold Director Wray in contempt of Congress to distract from the obvious fact that they do not have evidence to support their unfounded accusations against President Biden," he added.