The House Oversight Committee has given the FBI 24 hours to turn over a document that ties President Biden to an alleged $5 million foreign bribery scheme or else face contempt proceedings.
Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer on Monday gave FBI Director Christopher A. Wray a deadline of May 30 to hand over an internal unclassified FD-1023 form that reportedly describes a procedure for an exchange of money for policy decisions. Republican lawmakers issued a subpoena for the document last month.
Mr. Comer, Kentucky Republican, last week narrowed the scope of the subpoena to include the terms “June 30, 2020” and “five million.”
Mr. Wray has not indicated he will turn over the document. Mr. Comer and Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, confirmed they will speak to the FBI director by phone on Wednesday.
The FBI has cited concerns about informant confidentiality with regard to the document and said its information has not been verified.
“The FBI remains committed to cooperating with Congress’ oversight requests on this matter and others as we always have,” the bureau said.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has appeared confident the FBI will hand over the document, and said as much after he spoke with Mr. Wray more than a week ago.
A spokesperson for Democrats on the House Oversight Committee called Republicans’ pursuit of the document “political theater” based on an “unsubstantiated tip” to help former President Donald Trump in his 2024 primary campaign.
The document deadline comes just days after IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley testified behind closed doors to House Ways and Means Committee staffers about an alleged Justice Department cover-up to protect the president’s son, Hunter Biden.
Hunter Biden has been under federal investigation for several years for tax crimes, suspicious activity involving global business dealings and lying on a federal form when he purchased a gun.
“There were multiple steps that were slow-walked — were just completely not done — at the direction of the Department of Justice,” Mr. Shapley told CBS News last week. “When I took control of this particular investigation, I immediately saw deviations from the normal process. It was way outside the norm of what I’ve experienced in the past.”
Mr. Shapley said he and his team were removed from the investigation when he raised his concerns.
Mr. Shapley is the first of two IRS whistleblowers to come forward on the matter in recent days. The second whistleblower has yet to be identified.
According to an email sent Thursday to IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, the whistleblower alleges being ousted for revealing concerns that the Department of Justice was “acting inappropriately” in its handling of the investigation into Hunter Biden.
The whistleblower alleges having been terminated without explanation after working on the Hunter Biden case since 2018.
Mr. Werfel has told Congress he did not retaliate by removing Mr. Shapley’s team from the probe.
“I want to state unequivocally that I have not intervened — and will not intervene — in any way that would impact the status of any whistleblower,” Mr. Werfel said in a letter to Congress.