The unprecedented move to hold an FBI director in contempt comes after Comer and other GOP members claimed the agency was withholding information tied to an investigation.
Earlier Monday, Comer and the Oversight panel’s top ranking Democrat, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, were briefed behind closed doors by the FBI about the record in question.
“At the briefing, the FBI again refused to hand over the unclassified record to the custody of the House Oversight Committee, and we will now initiate contempt of Congress hearings this Thursday,” Comer told reporters.
Comer and other GOPers claim the document is tied to their investigation alleging Biden, as vice president under President Obama, engaged in a bribery scheme with a foreign national. The Biden White House slammed the claims.
“This is yet another fact-free stunt staged by Chairman Comer not to conduct legitimate oversight, but to spread thin innuendo to try to damage the president politically and get himself media attention,” a White House spokesman, Ian Sams, said in a statement.
The Oversight meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday.
If the panel votes to hold Wray in contempt, the measure would move to the full House, where Republicans have a four-seat majority, for a vote.
Raskin, the top Democrat on the panel, called the plans for a contempt citation against Wray “absolutely ridiculous.” He noted that he, like Comer, saw the FBI document in question, but Comer changed his request to ask for a physical copy.
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