McCarthy says he’ll call FBI director over subpoena in Biden probe

Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said he plans to call FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday after the agency rebuffed a subpoena from the House Oversight Committee for a document that GOP lawmakers claim lays out an “alleged criminal scheme” involving President Biden and a foreign national.

McCarthy’s comments came one day after Christopher Dunham, the acting assistant director of the FBI’s Office of Congressional Affairs, penned a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) informing him the agency would not immediately provide the document in question.

“As this was your first communication with the FBI seeking this information, please know that the FBI is committed to beginning the constitutionally mandated accommodation process,” Dunham wrote, later adding the agency “would be pleased to coordinate with your staff to discuss whether and how we can accommodate your request without violating our law enforcement and national security obligations.”

On Thursday morning, McCarthy called the FBI’s response “unacceptable.”

“I’m gonna call Director Wray today because we have oversight of the FBI. We have the right,” McCarthy said during an interview on “Fox & Friends” outside the Capitol. “Comer is simply following information that he has found. We should find all the information.”

McCarthy also underscored the House’s authority to conduct oversight over the FBI.

“As a member of Congress, it doesn’t matter if this person is Republican or Democrat. We have oversight of the FBI. If the FBI at any times think they could withhold information from Congress, we have a severe problem on our hands,” he said.

Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) subpoenaed the FBI last week after claiming a “highly credible” whistleblower informed them the FBI had an FD-1023 form in its possession that detailed “an alleged scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.”

FD-1023 forms are used to document unverified information that is obtained from confidential sources. Comer asked that the FBI hand over all such forms created or modified in June 2020 that contain the word “Biden.”

Comer and Grassley did not reveal any other details about the document in question, and Grassley in the past week has said Republicans do not know whether the claims are accurate.

“The mere existence of such a document would establish little beyond the fact that a confidential human source provided information and the FBI recorded it,” Dunham wrote to Comer. “Indeed, the FBI regularly receives information from sources with significant potential biases, motivations, and knowledge, including drug traffickers, members of organized crime, or even terrorists.”

Comer in a statement said the agency’s letter proves the document exists but is being shielded from Congress.

“It’s clear from the FBI’s response that the unclassified record the Oversight Committee subpoenaed exists, but they are refusing to provide it to the Committee,” Comer said. “We’ve asked the FBI to not only provide this record, but to also inform us what it did to investigate these allegations. The FBI has failed to do both. The FBI’s position is ‘trust, but you aren’t allowed to verify.’ That is unacceptable.”

During a press conference on Wednesday outlining information about foreign money transferred to businesses linked to the Biden family and associates, Comer said his panel “will report to you only facts when they are verified and indisputable.”

“This committee will not pursue witch hunts, or string the American people along for years with false promises of evidence that is beyond circumstantial evidence,” he added.