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FBI Heads Off House Oversight Committee Contempt Vote With Compromise

  
Via:  John Russell  •  2 years ago  •  56 comments

By:   HuffPost

FBI Heads Off House Oversight Committee Contempt Vote With Compromise
The committee was set to initiate contempt proceedings Thursday against FBI Director Christopher Wray in a dispute over a form involving a tip about Biden.

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WASHINGTON — Republicans have backed down from a threat to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress.

House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-Ky.) had planned to initiate contempt proceedings against Wray on Thursday if the bureau refused to provide a form documenting an unverified tip that Joe Biden took a bribe when he was vice president.

The Justice Department offered to brief all members of the House Oversight Committee about the document after having briefed just Comer and the committee's top Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), on Monday.

Comer had said he would still seek to hold Wray in contempt if he didn't let the committee have its own copy of the form, but Comer said late Wednesday that he had accepted the all-member briefing.

"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.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) suggested this week that if the full oversight committee could see the document, "then there's no need for contempt," and Comer had seemed open to the idea.

"The speaker makes the ultimate call," Comer told HuffPost on Tuesday. "But obviously, the more eyes that lay on it, the better."

According to both Comer and Raskin, a reliable FBI source told the bureau in June 2020 that someone else told him that, sometime during his vice presidency, Biden took a $5 million bribe from someone in Ukraine, but the source could not corroborate the information. Former president Donald Trump's attempt to pressure the Ukrainian president to push a similar story about the Biden family's corruption in Ukraine led to Trump's first impeachment.

The FBI's refusal to hand over the document had become the latest talking point supporting the sweeping GOP narrative that the federal government's lead law enforcement agency and the entire Justice Department has been "weaponized" by liberals against all they consider good in American life — especially Trump and his supporters.

"If this document were incriminating a political opponent versus a political ally, it wouldn't have to be subpoenaed," Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) told HuffPost. "It would have long since been leaked and disclosed to the public."

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), a moderate Republican and former FBI agent, said he'd been trying to help the two sides reach a deal, potentially by redacting identifying information.

"We can achieve compliance with the subpoena while simultaneously protecting the source," Fitzpatrick told HuffPost. "I'm the only FBI agent in Congress, so I'm offering my perspective to help all sides facilitate a resolution."

Comer told HuffPost on Tuesday that he didn't care who the source of the tip was. He said that when he viewed the document on Monday, the FBI's redactions were a problem.

"They redacted information that I believe would pinpoint the banks and the location of where this bribe actually happened," Comer said.

At the same time, Comer admitted that he doesn't know if the bribery allegation is true, just that it fits a pattern of shell companies funneling payments from foreign sources to members of Biden's family — a pattern that Comer has documented through bank records, but one that hasn't implicated Biden himself. The tip implicating the president is the missing link.

"My belief is that Christopher Wray and high-ranking FBI officials never even knew this form [documenting the tip] existed until I requested it," Comer said. "Therefore, no one vetted this allegation because it's kind of hard to believe."

Raskin, the top Democrat on the committee, said the material had been funneled to the FBI by Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and that Trump's attorney general, William Barr, signed off on closing the case in August 2020.

The Oversight Committee said Tuesday that the DOJ assessed material it received in 2020, around the time Barr confirmed the FBI was looking at Giuliani's material, but that the form Republicans are trying to subpoena was created by an FBI agent in June 2020 "based on another FBI record from 2017."

This week, Barr told The Federalist that the assessment wasn't closed down and that it was instead "sent to Delaware for further investigation."

Raskin doubled down on Wednesday, saying the FBI had told him that the form created in June 2020 pretty much echoed Giuliani's material and that the allegation against Biden went nowhere — even if the FBI is using the material in another investigation, as Comer has insisted.

"The FBI confirmed that much of this information was the same as information Mr. Giuliani had previously provided," Raskin said in a lengthy statement, concluding that "the key fact shared by the FBI in its briefing was that the assessment opened in January 2020 to evaluate Mr. Giuliani's allegations against President Biden and his son was closed in August 2020."


jrGroupDiscuss - desc
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JohnRussell
Professor Principal
1  seeder  JohnRussell    2 years ago

The Republicans backed down. Wray will not give them the document, he will show it to them. 

 
 
 
George
Senior Expert
1.1  George  replied to  JohnRussell @1    2 years ago
Wray will not give them the document, he will show it to them. 

A difference without a distinction. 

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
2  Kavika     2 years ago

Another Jordan failure.

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
2.1  Bob Nelson  replied to  Kavika @2    2 years ago

Jordan is a fool and an incompetent. A Republican, then.

 
 
 
Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
3  Vic Eldred    2 years ago

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)  suggested  this week that if the full oversight committee could see the document, “then there’s no need for contempt,” and Comer had seemed open to the idea.

They worked something out. All they wanted was for people to see the document. I'm the only one that wanted Wray held in contempt no matter what. Good for them. Maybe I'll meet up with Wray in a dark alley some day!

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
3.1  seeder  JohnRussell  replied to  Vic Eldred @3    2 years ago

Wray won. The FBI will retain custody of the document. 

 
 
 
Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
3.1.1  Vic Eldred  replied to  JohnRussell @3.1    2 years ago
Wray won.

No John, Wray needs the same thing Comey lusted for the other day: A Biden victory in 2024.

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
3.1.2  seeder  JohnRussell  replied to  Vic Eldred @3.1.1    2 years ago

Wray is a Republican. 

If he wants Biden to win its because he has seen how diseased the Republican Party has become. 

 
 
 
Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
3.1.3  Vic Eldred  replied to  JohnRussell @3.1.2    2 years ago
Wray is a Republican. 

And Manchin is a democrat.


If he wants Biden to win 

It will be to keep his job.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
3.1.4  Ender  replied to  JohnRussell @3.1.2    2 years ago

Sounds like someone is saying if a republican gets elected, they are going to attack the FBI and work it in to their own image of what they think it should be.

 
 
 
Ronin2
Professor Quiet
3.1.5  Ronin2  replied to  JohnRussell @3.1.2    2 years ago

Wray is a POS Establishment government official. He doesn't give a fuck who is in charge so long as they are Establishment and play by those rules.

The Establishment protects their own.

Also, if Wray is such a great "Republican" he should want to take Brandon down. Especially with all of the mishandled classified documents- many of them from when he was Senator- and they still don't have access to all of them.

Brandon should be the most investigated President in history with all of the money laundering in his family. But Wray can't seem to find the time; or the means. Too damn busy investigating Jan 6th rioters; and parents that have taken an interest in their children's education.

 

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
3.1.6  seeder  JohnRussell  replied to  Ronin2 @3.1.5    2 years ago

Do you want or expect the nation's premier law enforcement agency to be anti-establishment? 

 
 
 
goose is back
Junior Participates
3.1.7  goose is back  replied to  JohnRussell @3.1    2 years ago
FBI will retain custody of the document.

JR, who has the actual document, is moot. Its what in the document that's important. 

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
3.2  Trout Giggles  replied to  Vic Eldred @3    2 years ago

threatening someone you don't even know?

 
 
 
Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
3.2.1  Vic Eldred  replied to  Trout Giggles @3.2    2 years ago
threatening someone

I don't threaten people.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
3.2.2  Trout Giggles  replied to  Vic Eldred @3.2.1    2 years ago

No you make promises don't you?

 
 
 
Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
3.2.3  Vic Eldred  replied to  Trout Giggles @3.2.2    2 years ago
No you make promises don't you?

No pronouncements!

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
3.2.4  Trout Giggles  replied to  Vic Eldred @3.2.3    2 years ago

you think you're so tough

you're not

 
 
 
Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
3.2.5  Vic Eldred  replied to  Trout Giggles @3.2.4    2 years ago
you think you're so tough

I don't propose to be tough

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
3.2.6  Trout Giggles  replied to  Vic Eldred @3.2.5    2 years ago

[deleted]

 
 
 
SteevieGee
Professor Silent
3.3  SteevieGee  replied to  Vic Eldred @3    2 years ago
Maybe I'll meet up with Wray in a dark alley some day

You going to murder an FBI officer Vic?

 
 
 
Vic Eldred
Professor Principal
3.3.1  Vic Eldred  replied to  SteevieGee @3.3    2 years ago

Is that what I said?

Try agian Steevie

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
3.3.2  Kavika   replied to  Vic Eldred @3.3.1    2 years ago
Maybe I'll meet up with Wray in a dark alley some day!

Those are your words, Vic. I can only imagine what you would do to Wray in dark alley.

 
 
 
SteevieGee
Professor Silent
3.3.4  SteevieGee  replied to  Vic Eldred @3.3.1    2 years ago
Try agian Steevie

A handie?

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
3.3.5  Kavika   replied to  Texan1211 @3.3.3    2 years ago

Yet his quote is his and his alone. Perhaps Vic can tell us what he would do to Wray in a dark alley?

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
3.3.7  Trout Giggles  replied to  Texan1211 @3.3.6    2 years ago

Are you Vic's sock puppet? You're always speaking for him

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
3.3.9  Trout Giggles  replied to  Texan1211 @3.3.8    2 years ago

not with you

 
 
 
SteevieGee
Professor Silent
3.3.11  SteevieGee  replied to  Kavika @3.3.5    2 years ago
Perhaps Vic can tell us what he would do to Wray in a dark alley?

I'd like to know that too because it sounds to me like he's threatening the FBI director.  The FBI may not show up at every single gay rights protest in the country but they're pretty good at responding to online threats against their own.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
3.3.12  Trout Giggles  replied to  SteevieGee @3.3.11    2 years ago

Yes, they are.

It only takes one email or phone call

 
 
 
Thomas
PhD Guide
3.4  Thomas  replied to  Vic Eldred @3    2 years ago
Maybe I'll meet up with Wray in a dark alley some day!

Salacious misanthropy?

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
4  Ender    2 years ago

So all of this is about a supposed 'tip' someone gave? So it is not really even part of an investigation, just what someone told them....

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
5  seeder  JohnRussell    2 years ago
800
Ron Filipkowski
@RonFilipkowski
Marge emerges from reviewing the document that House GOP is all worked up about. According to her, it said that someone with Burisma told a paid informant that he paid a bribe to Hunter Biden, and he supposedly also had proof money went to Joe. But that proof is somehow missing.
 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
5.1  seeder  JohnRussell  replied to  JohnRussell @5    2 years ago

This is the GOP's steele dossier. and they are too stupid to realize it. 

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
5.1.3  Sean Treacy  replied to  JohnRussell @5.1    2 years ago
P's steele dossier. and they are too stupid to realize it. 

Cool. So the FBI will use it to spy on Democrats and the media will spend the next year hyping it as proof of Biden's corruption? So the Biden special counsel will appointed soon, I guess. 

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
5.1.4  seeder  JohnRussell  replied to  Sean Treacy @5.1.3    2 years ago

and Biden will spend the next hundred years complaining about it. 

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
5.1.5  seeder  JohnRussell  replied to  Texan1211 @5.1.2    2 years ago

my comment was not really about the steele dossier alone. even though you didnt get it, i feel sure some others here did. 

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
5.1.6  seeder  JohnRussell  replied to  Sean Treacy @5.1.3    2 years ago

No one appears capable of telling us what this "document" proves. 

According to Greene today someone alleges they heard something from someone else that says a bribe was paid. we went through this shit with these people 4 years ago. this is giuliani written all over it. we all know where his "intelligence ' has led. 

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
5.1.8  seeder  JohnRussell  replied to  Texan1211 @5.1.7    2 years ago

(deleted)

 
 
 
Snuffy
Professor Participates
5.1.11  Snuffy  replied to  JohnRussell @5.1.6    2 years ago

Well of course no one here can tell you what the document even says because the document has not been released to the public.  And nobody in the public knows how much if at all Giuliani had a hand in the making of this document or the information it contains.  But because of the questions that are raised it should be investigated.  From what was released by the FBI they are in the middle of an investigation.  

Don't you want to know the truth of it?

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
5.1.12  Sean Treacy  replied to  JohnRussell @5.1.6    2 years ago
one appears capable of telling us what this "document" proves. 

The document proves that a paid FBI informant, not Giuliani, came to the FBI and alleged Burisma bribed Joe Biden 5 million dollars through multiple bank accounts. At the same time  the bribe was paid we also have proof that Burisma was sending emails to Hunter Biden demanding high ranking American officials help shut down investigations of Burisma founder Nikolai Zlochevskyi.  There's much more "there" there than ever existed for the collusion hoax. 

But I'm sure it was Hunter's deep experience in energy that inspired Burisma to hire Hunter, right? 

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
5.1.13  seeder  JohnRussell  replied to  Sean Treacy @5.1.12    2 years ago
The document proves that a paid FBI informant, not Giuliani, came to the FBI and alleged Burisma bribed Joe Biden 5 million dollars through multiple bank accounts.

The paid informant didnt make the allegation. He repeated the allegation that someone else had given him. 

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
5.1.14  Sean Treacy  replied to  JohnRussell @5.1.13    2 years ago

The allegation came from a burisma executive.

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
5.1.15  seeder  JohnRussell  replied to  Sean Treacy @5.1.14    2 years ago

Now that Trump has been indicted for conspiracy and obstruction of justice we can expect Comer and Jordan to become more frantic than ever. 

 
 

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