The FBI on Wednesday rejected a request by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer to provide access to sensitive law enforcement materials that some congressional Republicans insist will reveal criminal activity involving Joe Biden. when he was vice president.
Comer, R-Ky., along with Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, had initially requested the materials in a May 3 letter to the FBI, citing what they called «highly credible unclassified whistleblower disclosures» regarding an unclassified document detailing «an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national related to the exchange of money for political decisions.» .
In its citationComer demanded that the FBI produce what are known as FD-1023 forms (Records of Interactions with Confidential Sources) created or modified in June 2020 that contain the term “Biden,” along with any attachments or other documents.
The FBI responded Wednesday, with Christopher Dunham, acting deputy director of the office’s Office of Congressional Affairs, saying in a letter that while the FBI committed to «beginning the constitutionally mandated accommodation process,» it was also bound by the Justice Department policy that «strictly limits when and how sensitive information from human sources outside of the FBI can be provided.»
«Often, even confirming the fact of the existence (or non-existence) of research or a particular piece of research information can put these serious harms at risk,» Dunham wrote, adding that it was «standard practice» for law enforcement will refuse to confirm or deny such facts.
Comer criticized the FBI’s response.
«It is clear from the FBI’s response that the unclassified record requested by the Oversight Committee exists, but they refuse to provide it to the Committee,» it said in a statement. statement. “We have asked the FBI to not only provide this record, but also to tell us what it did to investigate these allegations. The FBI has failed to do both.»
Grassley, meanwhile, insisted that the «FBI’s offer to provide an adaptation process in response to our legitimate request indicates that the document is real.»
When contacted for comment, an FBI spokesperson said the report requested by Comer’s committee «is used by FBI agents to record unverified reports from a confidential human source.»
“Documenting information does not validate it, establish its credibility, or compare it to other information verified by the FBI,” the spokesperson said in a statement, warning that providing such information could harm investigations and prosecutions and “unfairly violate privacy or the reputation”. .”
The previous Wednesday, Comer sent a 36 page memo to GOP Oversight Committee members containing limited details about the Biden family’s alleged business dealings with foreign nationals stemming from subpoenas to four different banks.
When contacted for comment on Comer’s attempts to obtain FBI materials, the White House referred Wednesday night to a statement last week from Ian Sams, its oversight and investigations spokesman, who accused Republicans of from Congress of a years-long effort to “push unsubstantiated, unproven, politically motivated attacks against the president and his family without offering evidence of their claims or evidence of decisions influenced by anything other than the interests of the United States” .
Katherine Doyle contributed.