Comer places FBI Director in contempt crosshairs over Biden informant document
Rep. James Comer is poised on Thursday to set in motion a process that holds FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress over his refusal to turn over a document the GOP congressman claims implicates President Joe Biden in a criminal bribery scheme.
But history says the rebuke will be of little consequence to Wray and critics believe it represents extraordinary overreach by Comer in the name of an investigative pursuit that is swiftly losing steam.
Thursday at 9 a.m. eastern, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, of which Comer chairs, will consider and vote on a resolution to hold Wray in contempt of Congress. If, as expected, it clears the 47-member GOP-led committee, it will be placed before the full House in the coming weeks, thrusting the leadership of the nation’s premiere law enforcement agency into a political furnace.
At issue is an unclassified document that has been brought to Capitol Hill for Comer that centers on an informant’s account of Biden’s involvement in foreign influence-peddling in Ukraine when he was vice president. While Comer’s Democratic counterpart on the Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, said former President Donald Trump’s Justice Department has previously determined no need for further investigation of the matter, Comer insists the document “has not been disproven,” according to his own discussions with FBI officials.
Former Attorney General William Barr appeared to bolster Comer’s case, providing a statement to The Federalist saying the Biden bribery investigation was not closed down. “It wasn’t closed down. On the contrary, it was sent to Delaware for further investigation.”
Even though Comer has viewed the document in question, the FBI has declined to provide him complete possession of it in order to present to the full Oversight committee and broader public. This is Comer’s rationale for holding Wray in contempt of the legislative body’s demands.
“Americans have lost trust in the F.B.I’s ability to enforce the law impartially and demand answers, transparency and accountability. The investigation is not dead,” Comer told reporters on Capitol Hill this week. “This is only the beginning.”
Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson on investigations, described it as a means for Comer “to spread thin innuendo to try to damage the president politically and get himself media attention.”
A congressional vote to hold a senior law enforcement official in contempt would not be unprecedented. Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress in 2012 for his refusal to hand over documents related to the Fast and Furious illegal firearm tracking scandal.
And in 2019, the House voted to hold Attorney General Bill Barr in contempt for defying congressional subpoenas on questions surrounding the 2020 U.S. Census.
Charges were never pursued against either of them for their refusals to cooperate, underscoring the reality that contempt of Congress is rarely prosecuted – particularly against high-ranking officials.
Analysts note that Comer’s contempt is a bit of a departure from previous cases, which arose out of an absolute refusal to provide information.
“In this case, the FBI appears to have shown the document to committee leadership and briefed them, making the dispute about the control of a document, not access to information,” noted David Janovsky, a policy analyst with The Project on Government Oversight.
When Comer was pressed by a reporter on why he needed the actual document in hand if he had had the chance to view it, he delivered an uneven answer raising suspicions about the FBI’s willingness to investigate the claims.
Later, in a Fox News appearance, Comer said the form provided to him by the FBI was “heavily redacted, with specific dates and specific locations that we need to have in our investigation.”
Comer’s critics say his case against Biden has shown to be thinning at a moment when the former president from his own party is facing more serious legal jeopardy.
“The former President’s own Attorney General William Barr already declined to pursue this investigation several years ago,” said Aaron Scherb, the senior director of legislative affairs at Common Cause. “FBI Director Christopher Wray is a lifelong Republican and member of the Federalist Society. This committee vote to hold him in contempt is yet another example of congressional Republicans trying to weaponize the federal government when they disagree with the outcome.”
There are still some long-shot possibilities for offramps to the stand-off between Comer and the FBI.
Recently, the House Foreign Affairs Committee paused its own contempt proceedings against Secretary of State Antony Blinken after reaching a similar agreement to view – but not keep – a subpoenaed diplomatic cable.
What’s more, Raskin, the top Democrat on Oversight, has been trying to move “as many Republicans as possible” to oppose Comer’s contempt effort.
That’s likely to be a heavy lift inside a highly calcified Congress as election season once again creeps over the legislative calendar.
Comer has touted this as a “big week” for Oversight and said he expects the vote to succeed.
“I wouldn’t want to be held in contempt of Congress and end up in prison being the former head of the FBI,” Comer told Fox News Tuesday night.
But the likelihood of the Department of Justice attempting to jail its own FBI director seems far-fetched.
“In this case, I suspect DOJ would conclude Wray substantially complied since the committee leadership reviewed the document,” said Janovsky, citing the longstanding precedent of executive agency privilege. “That kind of blanket refusal to enforce contempt is a longstanding barrier to congressional oversight in situations where officials refuse to provide information.”
This story was originally published June 7, 2023 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Comer places FBI Director in contempt crosshairs over Biden informant document."