Does the FBI have an investigation going or not? Any answer to that question is bad for Democrats. The ranking progressive on the House Oversight Committee, Jamie Raskin, was blindsided to learn that a probe he thought had been killed long ago is somehow open and active now. It apparently rattled him enough that he pretended to ignore the revelation. If the probe was closed without any actual digging, it looks really bad for the already disgraced and biased bureau. If it was kept open this long, without any charges being pressed, that’s worse. If it was closed then and reopened now, just to prevent the tip report from being handed over to Congress, someone will be going to prison.
FBI hiding the ball
The director of the FBI is facing contempt of Congress charges over a controversial informant tip. While it involves Joe Biden and $5 million dollars, the real question is whether or not the bureau ever investigated the claims. The answer to that got even more confusing on Monday, June 5. Christopher Wray sent over a flunky to brief the Republican chairman of the committee, James Comer, and his Democrat counterpart Jamie Raskin, with a redacted copy of the memo in question.
After the briefing, Comer says they were told one of the reasons the actual memo itself can’t be revealed is because of a pending investigation that’s using it. Raskin says he missed that and as far as he knows the whole thing was closed without an investigation a long time ago.
As soon as he came out of the secret briefing, Comer told the press that the “FBI refused to provide the subpoenaed unclassified document due to its use in an ongoing probe.” They won’t tell him any more than that, he adds.
🚨BREAKING: House Oversight Chair James Comer confirms FD1023 form proves Biden criminal bribery scheme after viewing it, announces Contempt of Congress hearings for FBI Director Wray this Thursday pic.twitter.com/iqWv9NgAqV
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) June 5, 2023
Bureau officials “confirmed that the unclassified, FBI-generated record has not been disproven and is currently being used in an ongoing investigation.” That means there must be some sort of basis for pressing criminal charges against someone. Someone named Biden. Maybe more than one family member and that even includes Joe.
Now that he’s seen the official version of a document which he already has a copy of, on his desk, Comer can confirm that “the claims made in the document are consistent with what we found and disclosed to you all.”
Referring to wire transfers to the Bidens from Romania, the chairman explained the FBI tip report “suggests a pattern of bribery where payments would be made through shell accounts and multiple banks.” Last month, his committee revealed that “the Biden family business, over the course of several years, received at least $10 million from business schemes in Romania and China.” You’re probably familiar with the type of scheme, he notes.
It’s called money laundering
“There’s a term for that,” Comer told the gathered press. “It’s called money laundering.” That’s why conservatives on his panel are convinced it fits the pattern they already pieced together in other countries.
The fact the FBI says an investigation is “ongoing” is big. Not only that, the file “originated from an interview the bureau conducted with an informant.” Not just any informant but a “highly credible” source “with a history dating back to the Barack Obama administration.” The bureau is convinced the rat will be killed the moment his name is revealed.
The phrasing of the FBI official’s statement to the lawmakers in the confidential session has sparked even more speculation. When he asked if the bureau “took any action based on the ‘credible‘ source,” the answer was “it is now part of another investigation.” That implies an old one and a new one.
.@GOPoversight and I are currently investigating NINE members of the Biden Family who received money from foreign nationals overseas.
The FBI must hand over the FD-1023 form from June 30, 2020, to help us with this investigation. pic.twitter.com/pZWisOJtip
— Rep Andy Biggs (@RepAndyBiggsAZ) June 6, 2023
Either way, they consider this tip, no matter how ancient, credible enough to investigate right now. Maybe just to hide the fact they didn’t do the job then. “We don’t know which investigation. We don’t know when the investigation began.” The bureau isn’t telling them anything.
At first, the “FBI initially refused to confirm the existence of the file documenting the informant’s claims.” Now that they’ve seen it with their own eyes they know that’s an outright lie.
“All we know is two weeks ago they tried to act like this [form] didn’t exist and now here is the FBI bringing the form to the House of Representatives.” Wray had his chance to hand it over nicely and he didn’t. So, on Thursday, they will be moving forward to vote on contempt charges. Because Republicans hold the majority in the committee, the charges are likely to pass.
