Spokesman Kevin McCarthy has said the FBI is ready to release a potentially damning document on President Joe Biden after an impassioned phone call with the FBI Director.
In a television interview on Sunday, the California representative gave some insight into what happened between him and director Christopher Wray on Friday’s call, a day after federal authorities rejected a subpoena for the unreleased report.
The official request was sent by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and related to a future financial form that several GOP lawmakers allege represents an “alleged criminal plot” involving Biden and an unnamed foreigner be involved.
But almost immediately thereafter, the bureau’s acting assistant director of congressional affairs wrote a letter to Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, telling him that the agency would not immediately provide the form in question.
McCarthy, 58, promptly issued a statement of his own denouncing the response. In it, he called Deputy Director Christopher Dunham’s official response “unacceptable” – and promised to speak to his line manager by phone by Friday.
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Spokesman Kevin McCarthy has said the FBI is ready to turn over a potentially damning document involving President Joe Biden – after he had an impassioned phone call with the FBI director on Friday
Speaking to Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo (left), the 58-year-old spokesman confirmed the call took place and said he was confident the document – the contents of which are said to have been confirmed by a “very credible” whistleblower – will be available soon in the hands of the house
Speaking to Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo two days later, the announcer confirmed a call had taken place and said he was confident the document – the contents of which were reportedly corroborated by a “highly credible” whistleblower – would soon be in the hands of the House of Representatives.
“I wanted to get the FBI Director straight,” McCarthy began, speaking for the first time about the promised phone call between himself and Wray. “Congress has the authority, and we have the authority, to monitor the FBI.”
“This is a piece of paper that a committee chair asked to see,” the Conservative continued toward the end of a roughly seven-minute spot, which also detailed his recent negotiations with Biden over the debt ceiling.
He said of the subpoenaed document: “[Dunham] has not even confirmed that he has this document – he has not even provided it.
Citing Congress’s status as the body that oversees the FBI and other federal agencies, McCarthy Bartiromo recalled how on Friday he attacked the agency’s chief by confronting him about the fact that Dunham’s refusal was not just a violation of which represents ethics but also against the law as well.
“I explained to the director that we will do everything in our power and [that] “We have jurisdiction over the FBI — that we have the right to see this document,” the Republican said.
“I believe after this call we will get this document.”
Aside from that allegation, the GOP official declined to comment on the contents of the form — which Comer and Iowa’s Chuck Grassley says is an FD-1023 Form containing “an alleged plan that the then-Vice President Biden was involved.”
Such forms are typically used to document unconfirmed information from confidential sources — and in this case, Republican officials claim, it involves Biden’s alleged dealings with “a foreigner in connection with exchanging money for political decisions.”
Neither the man nor McCarthy have revealed any further details about the document in question.
McCarhty spoke to FBI Director Christopher Wray (pictured) during Friday’s call, which came a day after federal officials working under the FBI chief rejected a subpoena asking for the report – which lawmakers said would constitute a “suspected criminal plot.” ‘, in which Biden and a foreigner are involved
The request was sent by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (pictured) and related to a future finance form that was filled out when Biden was vice president. Republicans have admitted they don’t know if the allegations are true, adding further pressure on the FBI
Last week, Senator Grassley – who also served as the subpoena with Comer – admitted to Grassley that he and other Republicans did not know if the allegations were accurate, putting further pressure on the FBI.
However, the official demand failed to convince Dunham, who immediately sent a letter to Cormer explaining why the agency would not make the document available immediately.
“An FD-1023 form documents information provided to an FBI agent.”Recording the information does not validate the information, establish its credibility, or correlate it with other information known or developed by the FBI,” Dunham wrote to the Kentucky Conservative
“The mere existence of such a document would prove little beyond the fact that a confidential human source provided information and the FBI recorded it,” he added, arguing that the unnamed insiders’ claims should not immediately warrant a federal investigation.
“The FBI regularly receives information from sources with significant potential bias, motivation and knowledge, including drug traffickers, organized crime members or even terrorists,” he said.
Comer, meanwhile, was unconvinced and, in a statement sent in retaliation, argued that the agency’s letter alone proved the document’s existence and that it was being kept secret from Congress by Bureau officials.
“It is clear from the FBI’s response that the non-classified documents subpoenaed by the Oversight Committee exist, but they refuse to provide them to the committee,” Comer explained.
FBI Assistant Director of Congressional Affairs Christopher Dunham denied the subpoena for lack of evidence – a maneuver the GOP has since called “unacceptable” and spurred McCarthy on Friday to promise to work with the supervisor of the to speak fed
“We have asked the FBI not only to provide these records, but also to let us know what they have done to investigate these allegations.” The FBI has failed to do both. The FBI’s position is, ‘Trust, but you must not verify.’ This is unacceptable.’
The statement came two days after an earlier claim by Comer that he said his panel would “only report facts to you when they are verified and indisputable” – referring to any foreign money sent to companies that associated with the Biden family and their partners,
He added, “This committee will not conduct witch hunts or burden the American people with false promises of evidence beyond circumstantial evidence for years.”
Grassley, meanwhile, criticized the FBI’s refusal to release the document in a statement Friday: “Today’s letter from the FBI raises additional questions, including whether the FBI has an ongoing investigation based on these allegations.”
By Sunday, the bureau has yet to confirm whether any of the above claims regarding the prospective financial form are true. It’s not yet clear if the agency has started verifying these claims.
Republicans have yet to see the document.