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McCarthy Threatens FBI Director Wray With Contempt: ‘Today Is The Deadline’

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is once again warning FBI Director Christopher Wray he will be hit with a charge of contempt of Congress for failing to turn over a subpoenaed document regarding a probe into President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.

During his appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday, McCarthy was engaged in a conversation about the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations when the discussion then shifted to an upcoming meeting between Wray and House Oversight Chairman James Comer.

Their meeting follows Comer’s allegations that the FBI has been uncooperative in complying with a subpoena requesting internal documents pertaining to the Biden family’s business interactions with foreign entities.

Comer has said he’ll hold Wray in contempt if his agency fails to turn over the requested document, and McCarthy reiterated that threat during the interview, saying he had spoken to Wray and instructed him to turn over the document by day’s end.

“Today is the deadline. So let me not just tell you, let me tell Director Christopher Wray right here, right now. If he misses the deadline today, I’m prepared to move contempt charges in Congress against him. We have jurisdiction over this. He can send us that document,” McCarthy said.

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“We have the right to look at that, Republicans and Democrats alike in that committee, and if he does not follow through with the law, we will move contempt charges against Christopher Wray and the FBI. They are not above the law,” he added.

The FBI has claimed that releasing the document could expose a confidential source and endanger other investigations.

According to remarks from other Republicans, there are allegations that the internal unclassified FD-1023 form at the center of the controversy contains information outlining an alleged “arrangement” involving the exchange of money in return for policy decisions.

In a letter addressed to Wray last week, Comer stated that he is taking steps to narrow the scope of the subpoena for the document. As part of this effort, he has included two additional terms, namely “June 30, 2020” and “five million,” which may be referenced in the record.

“The FBI’s refusal to produce this single document is obstructionist,” Comer’s letter noted.

In a statement to the Daily Mail, the FBI relied on a claim of national security that critics find dubious.

The FBI’s mission is to protect the American people. Releasing confidential source information could potentially jeopardize investigations and put lives at risk,” the bureau’s statement said. “The FBI remains committed to cooperating with Congress’s oversight requests on this matter and others as we always have.”

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Staffers for the Oversight Committee who are working on the “influence-peddling” investigation met with FBI officials on Monday, but they refused to provide the subpoenaed document.

The outlet noted further:

The meeting Monday came after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said over the weekend that the FBI was poised to hand over the potentially damning document.

McCarthy said he spoke with Wray last week and believed that after their conversation, Republicans would “get this document.”

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“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,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said.

The latest FBI obstruction came in the wake of a second whistleblower from the IRS stepping forward to allege that he was marginalized in the Hunter Biden investigation after voicing concerns about the preferential treatment being afforded to the president’s son.

Per documents obtained by DailyMail.com on Monday, the as-yet-unidentified case agent involved in the Hunter Biden investigation said he was terminated last week without any explanation. The agent had been working on the investigation since 2018, as outlined in the documents provided to congressional leaders.

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