McCarthy and the Republicans want to see everything.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy warned that FBI Director Christopher Wray could be charged with contempt of Congress if he restricts access to a document revealing an alleged bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden during his vice presidency and a foreign national. McCarthy emphasized that the document should be made available to the entire House Oversight Committee, not solely to its Chairman, James Comer, who is a Republican from Kentucky.
In transcript provided by Newsmax, McCarthy stated, “We have a responsibility of oversight. If they do not comply and allow every person on oversight, Republican or Democrat — that’s their responsibility to the members of Congress — to see this document, I will move contempt charges against the director.”
Following Speaker McCarthy’s threat of contempt, the FBI has scheduled a briefing for Monday to provide Chairman James Comer of the House Oversight Committee with the opportunity to review the document. McCarthy asserted that this development only came about due to his intervention as the Speaker of the House.
Comer then shed light on the issue and said, “When we realized there was a document, we sent a subpoena. He did not want to comply with the subpoena. I called the director and told him I needed this subpoena, that we have a responsibility to oversee the FBI, a constitutional responsibility…he then changed his mind [and said] he would let the chairman and the rankers see the document and bring it to the House. That is not good enough.”
According to McCarthy, the FBI is seeking to build a new headquarters at an estimated cost of approximately $4 billion. However, he expressed his disagreement, stating that he believes there are more beneficial ways to allocate such a significant amount of taxpayer money.
McCarthy then knocked the FBI and said, “I also wonder, do we need one big, large FBI building, and does it need to be back in Virginia, or should it be in Maryland or should it be in Texas if you’re doing cybersecurity or other [things]? The president himself is fighting a bill I passed to bring federal workers back to work, as 50% of federal workers are not coming in. I think it’s responsible that they come in and do their job. But if that’s the argument, wouldn’t it be better if we had smaller offices across the country where FBI agents could help local law enforcement to solve human trafficking, to solve cybersecurity?”