Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., had threatened to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress if he does not turn over the document to the panel.
The FBI will let the chair and ranking member of the House Oversight Committee review an internal law enforcement document next week in the GOP-led panel’s investigation of the Biden family’s business dealings, a committee spokesperson said Friday.
Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed the FBI last month for the FD-1023 form, which he and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, claimed describes an alleged criminal scheme involving Joe Biden when he was vice president and a foreign national “relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.” The two Republicans did not provide any further details.
The agency will bring the document to Capitol Hill on Monday and offer a briefing to Comer and ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the committee spokesperson said.
Christopher Durham, acting assistant director of the FBI, warned in a letter to Comer earlier this week that FD-1023 forms record information told to the FBI, but recording the information “does not validate the information, establish its credibility, or weigh it against other information known or developed by the FBI.”
“Investigative reports, such as an FD-1023, include leads and suspicions, not the conclusions of investigators based on fuller context, including information that may not be available to the confidential source,” Dunham wrote.
News of the briefing Monday was first reported by Fox News.
After Comer issued the subpoena to FBI Director Christopher Wray for the document last month, the FBI declined to provide it, saying it had to adhere to Justice Department policy, which limits how confidential human source information can be distributed outside of the FBI.
Comer then said the committee would move to hold Wray in contempt of Congress unless he turns over the document. Following a phone call between Comer, Grassley and Wray on Wednesday, the FBI said Wray had offered to allow the leaders of the committee to review the document “in a secure manner.”
“The FBI committed to providing access to information responsive to the Committee’s subpoena in a format and setting that maintains confidentiality and protects important security interests and the integrity of FBI investigations,” said a spokesperson for the FBI.
Raskin has accepted the FBI’s invitation to review the subpoenaed document, a spokesperson said.
“The Ranking Member appreciates the agency’s efforts to accommodate the Committee and the opportunity to review and be briefed on the Trump Justice Department’s follow up on the unsubstantiated tip sheet after weeks of Chairman Comer’s partisan spin,” the Raskin spokesperson added.
A spokesperson for the Oversight Committee said that the upcoming briefing and review of the document will not dissuade Comer from moving forward with contempt proceedings against Wray.
“Chairman Comer has been clear that anything short of producing the FD-1023 form to the House Oversight Committee is not compliance with his subpoena,” the spokesperson said.
House Republicans leading key committees have pursued a series of investigations into the Biden family’s business dealings since they took over the chamber earlier this year.
The White House has criticized the investigations, arguing the probes are politically motivated and designed to hurt Biden’s re-election chances.