Kevin McCarthy to Hold FBI Director in Contempt of Congress if Deadline Missed for Biden Bribery Document

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress if he refuses to hand over an informant file before Tuesday’s deadline that links President Joe Biden to a $5 million bribery scheme.

The informant file is an unclassified document that is a record of an interview the FBI conducted with an informant. The document allegedly details an arrangement involving an exchange of money for policy decisions between now-President Biden and a foreign national. 

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) subpoenaed the file, but the FBI refuses to comply. The Justice Department does not deny the existence of a record. 

“I have a message for FBI Director Christopher Wray,” McCarthy posted on Twitter. “If he misses today’s deadline to turn over subpoenaed documents to Congress, I am prepared to move contempt charges against him.”

I have a message for FBI Director Christopher Wray: If he misses today’s deadline to turn over subpoenaed documents to Congress, I am prepared to move contempt charges against him. pic.twitter.com/D3hyW3VIpX

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) May 30, 2023

The FBI told reporters it is hesitant to release the document because it contains confidential information.

“The FBI’s mission is to protect the American people,” the FBI said last week. “Releasing confidential source information could potentially jeopardize investigations and put lives at risk. The FBI remains committed to cooperating with Congress’s oversight requests.”

To reduce the FBI’s exposure, Comer narrowed the subpoena’s scope to obtain the document.

Comer wrote Wray last week:

The FBI’s refusal to produce this single document is obstructionist. Nevertheless, to narrow the breadth of the subpoena, we are providing additional terms based on unclassified and legally protected whistleblower disclosures that may be referenced in the FD-1023 form: “June 30, 2020” and “five million.”

On Monday, Democrats defended the FBI’s stonewalling, calling the informant file “not even a molehill.”

“It just sounds preposterous to me that you will hold the FBI director in contempt over a tip sheet that they think someone submitted to the FBI,” House Oversight Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told Punchbowl News. “[Comer is] making a mountain out of something that is not even a molehill.”