Document at Center of Comer’s FBI Request Explained

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer vowed to forge ahead with contempt of Congress charges against FBI Director Christopher Wray if the bureau does not relinquish a document allegedly detailing a bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden.

The Republican chairman has warned of pursuing charges against Wray multiple times after the FBI failed to comply with a subpoena Comer filed with Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley this month. The request, sent with a joint statement from the lawmakers, claimed that a “credible whistleblower” had disclosed that the FBI was in possession of an unclassified document that describes a purported criminal scheme between a foreign national and Biden while he was serving as vice president.

The specific document being sought is an FD-1023 form, an FBI record that contains an unverified report from a confidential source. Comer and Grassley’s subpoena originally requested that Wray turn over all such documents created during the month of June 2020 that contained the word “Biden” to the House Oversight panel by May 30. The FBI failed to meet Tuesday’s deadline.

Instead, Wray sent a letter to Comer on Tuesday, promising to giving lawmakers access to the requested information “in a format and setting that maintains confidentiality and protects important security interests and the integrity of FBI investigations.” The FBI director also held a phone call with Comer and Grassley on Wednesday to discuss the bureau’s decision further, offering the lawmakers “an opportunity to review information responsive to the subpoena in a secure manner to accommodate the committee, while protecting the confidentiality and safety of sources and important investigative sensitivities,” the bureau told Newsweek via email later that day.

Comer was unsatisfied by his conversation with Wray, however, promising again Wednesday evening to move forward with contempt of Congress charges if the document is not released to his committee.

“Today, FBI Director Wray confirmed the existence of the FD-1023 form alleging then-Vice President Biden engaged in a criminal bribery scheme with a foreign national,” read a statement posted to Comer’s Twitter account. “However, Director Wray did not commit to producing the documents subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee.

“While Director Wray—after a month of refusing to even acknowledge that the form existed—has offered to allow us to see the documents in person at FBI headquarters, we have been clear that anything short of producing these documents to the House Oversight Committee is not in compliance with the subpoena,” Comer continued.

Newsweek has reached out to Comer’s office via email for further comment on Wednesday’s phone call.

What’s in an FD-1023?

According to the FBI, an FD-1023 form is “used by FBI agents to record unverified reporting by a confidential human source.” The record, however, does not validate the source’s information, the bureau told Newsweek, nor does it “weigh” the source’s record against other verified information obtained by the FBI.

“Revealing unverified or possibly incomplete information could harm investigations, prejudice prosecutions or judicial proceedings, unfairly violate privacy or reputations, create misimpressions in the public, or potentially identify individuals who provide information to law enforcement, placing their physical safety at risk,” read a statement from the FBI.

“Information from confidential human sources and members of the public is critical to the work of the FBI and we are also committed to protecting the confidentiality of anyone who comes forward,” the bureau added.

In the letter to Comer on Tuesday, Christopher Dunham, acting assistant director of the FBI, said that there are “significant limits on whether, when, and how confidential human source information can be provided outside of the FBI,” reiterating that the caveats “are critical to the physical safety of our sources and others identified in source reporting, as well as to the integrity of our confidential human source program and longstanding Department of Justice confidentiality interests.”

According to former FBI agent Tracy Walder, who spoke with NewsNation host Dan Abrams on Tuesday, FD-1023s are rarely shared outside of the bureau’s possession “because the reality is, we want to protect our sources and methods.”

“When we are releasing source information out into the public realm, that makes people then have a little bit of trepidation about coming to the FBI … if they are not going to be protected,” Walder continued.

What Republicans Want With the Document

Comer’s pressure on the FBI is part of a larger promise by GOP lawmakers to increase its oversight of the Biden administration, claiming that federal law enforcement has been “weaponized” under the current White House.

Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who serves on the House Oversight Committee, has also expressed her intent of moving articles of impeachment against Biden over the whistleblower’s accusations.

It remains unclear what exactly is contained within the sought-after FD-1023, however, and neither Comer nor Grassley have provided details regarding the accusations against the president. David A. Bateman, associate professor of government at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, previously told Newsweek that the accusations against Biden should be treated with “skepticism” and called Comer and Grassley’s subpoena “a PR move.”

“The very specificity of the claim—the repeated invocation of form FD-1023—should be a tell,” Bateman said. “They could just say that someone has made an allegation which they are planning to investigate, which as I understand it is what an FD-1023 form is, but that would be less tantalizing than teasing the possibility of a government document providing concrete evidence of a crime.”

“If they can produce credible evidence, they will produce it,” he added. “Until then, or until they’ve established a track record of producing real evidence, there’s neither much real worry of impeachment nor any reason to participate in the hype job.”