House Speaker Issues New Subpoena Threat to FBI Director

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) speaks to the press after meeting President Joe Biden to discuss the debt limit at the White House in Washington on May 22, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said that FBI Director Christopher Wray will face charges of contempt if he doesn’t provide a document that alleges a bribery scheme between President Joe Biden and a foreign national to the House Oversight Committee.

“We have a responsibility of oversight,” the California lawmaker told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” in an interview with host Maria Bartiromo. “If they do not comply and allow every person on oversight, Republican or Democrat—that’s their responsibility to the members of Congress—to see this document, I will move contempt charges against the director.”

According to House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), the FBI director is slated to brief him on Monday about the document. He will also be allowed to review it, but McCarthy said that that development only occurred because of the threat of contempt charges.

“When we realized there was a document, we sent a subpoena,” said McCarthy. “[Wray] did not want to comply with the subpoena. I called the director and told him I needed this subpoena, that we have a responsibility to oversee the FBI, a constitutional responsibility ... he then changed his mind [and said] he would let the chairman and the rankers see the document and bring it to the House. That is not good enough.”

Several days ago, McCarthy announced that he would lead an effort to hold Wray in contempt because Congress has “jurisdiction over this.” He added, “He can send us that document. We have the right to look at that—Republicans and Democrats alike in that committee.”

Last month, the FBI refused to provide the document to members of Congress by a deadline that Comer had set. The bureau said that there were concerns about the confidentiality of informants and the fact that some tips were not verified.

“Releasing confidential source information could potentially jeopardize investigations and put lives at risk,” the FBI said in a statement to media outlets last week. “The FBI remains committed to cooperating with Congress’s oversight requests on this matter and others as we always have.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray listens at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 19, 2023. AP Photo/Markus Schreiber

A bureau spokesperson further stipulated that in May, Wray “scheduled a telephone call for tomorrow to provide additional details of the FBI’s extraordinary accommodation to satisfy the subpoena request.” Republicans’ discussion “of escalation under these circumstances is unnecessary,” the statement continued to say.

But in a May 3 letter, Comer and  Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) revealed they received “highly credible unclassified whistleblower disclosures” that the agency had a record that “describes an alleged criminal scheme involving then-vice president Joe Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.” Democrats have argued that Comer’s claims are politically motivated.

Longstanding Investigation

Over the years, Republicans have attempted to obtain information on Biden’s and his family’s overseas business dealings, asserting that they may pose ethical and legal problems for the president. In late 2020, the New York Post revealed the existence of a now-infamous laptop that was previously owned by his son Hunter Biden that contained messages and emails about business deals with a Chinese state-linked energy firm, with one saying that 10 percent of one deal would be “held by H for the big guy.”

Information that was sourced from the laptop was heavily referenced during the second debate between then-candidate Biden and then-President Donald Trump in which the former president accused Biden of being a corrupt and venal individual. Trump also made reference to a former Hunter Biden business partner, Tony Bobulinski, who came forward to say that the “big guy” was Joe Biden himself.

Biden has long denied involvement in his family’s business affairs. In March, Biden was asked about newly disclosed bank records that showed financial transactions showing that Hunter Biden transferred more than $1 million to members of his family, allegedly from the Chinese firm, but the president denied any knowledge.

A reporter from The Epoch Times’ sister media, NTD News, asked Biden on the South Lawn of the White House about those payments. “Any reaction to House GOP’s memo about your family’s dealings, sir?” NTD White House correspondent Iris Tao asked the president. “My family’s dealings?” Biden asked.

“Yes. Revealing that Hunter Biden’s business associate sent over $1 million to three of your family members. Any reaction to that report?” Tao asked. “That’s not true,” Biden said.

According to Comer’s office in a statement issued in March, subpoenaed financial records show that his family members, Hunter Biden, James Biden, Hallie Biden, and another undisclosed Biden got some $1.3 million in payments from Rob Walker. It came after State Energy HK Limited wired $3 million to Walker’s Robinson Walker LLC before payments were transferred to the Biden family accounts.

“Most of the payments to the Biden family came after Rob Walker received a $3 million wire from a Chinese energy company,” Comer’s office said at the time.