GOP Rep. Scott Perry: Throw FBI Director Christopher Wray in ‘the Brig’

Scott Perry and Christopher Wray
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-PA) stated Tuesday that FBI Director Christopher Wray should be put in “the brig” if he steps foot on Capitol Hill after he refused to provide a subpoenaed informant file to Congress that allegedly details an arrangement involving an exchange of money for policy decisions between now-President Joe Biden and a foreign national.

The Republican-controlled House began to hold Wray in contempt of Congress Tuesday for refusing to comply with House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer’s (R-KY) subpoena. If Wray is ultimately held in contempt, the House will refer the charges to the Justice Department.

“We can’t press charges. But we certainly can refer charges,” Perry told Just the News. “And if he shows up on Capitol Hill, if he shows up in the House chamber, he can certainly end up in the brig here.”

“I think those are harsh words, but we just cannot have this defiance,” Perry added.

“Either he needs to comply or there needs to be severe consequences – the most extreme competent consequences that the legislative body can provide for,” Perry continued. “That’s what needs to happen with an individual like him with his defiance about the truth that the American people deserve and own.”

According to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), a jail exists in the basement of the Capitol Building to hold those who defy congressional subpoenas.

“We do have a little jail down in the basement of the Capitol, but if we were arresting all of the people in the administration we would have an overcrowded jail situation,” she told the Washington Post. “And I’m not for that.”

Comer and Wray have a call reportedly scheduled at 1:30 PM ET Wednesday to speak about the FBI’s stonewalling. Wray will allegedly provide “additional information that we are prepared to offer the Committee as an extraordinary accommodation.”

The Justice Department does not deny the existence of the record.

Comer wrote in a press release:

While I have a call scheduled with FBI Director Wray tomorrow 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.

Last week, 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.”

Related — Comer: “Double Standard” in DOJ Handling of Trump and Biden on Classified Documents

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.

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