Raskin Blasts Oversight Committee Chair's 'Recycled' Smear Of Biden
It is an internal FBI document used to record an informant’s unverified statement, and House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Comer (R-KY) wants it.
After weeks of threats and intimidation, Comer announced on Monday that he will seek to obtain a contempt of Congress conviction against FBI Director Chris Wray, who refused to hand over to the committee the document, known as an FD-1023, which allegedly contains allegations of unlawful activity years ago by then-Vice President Joe Biden.
Ranking Member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) late Monday afternoon released a statement slamming Comer.
“As the FBI explained at length during today’s briefing, and in previous conversations leading up to today’s accommodation, releasing this form publicly could place the Confidential Human Source in grave danger and undermine the integrity of FBI programs and investigations going forward,” Raskin said in a statement. “Yet, rather than acknowledge these legitimate law enforcement concerns, Chairman Comer has declared his intent to hold Director Wray in contempt of Congress to further promote debunked Republican conspiracy theories.”
“We now know what I had long suspected: that Chairman Comer’s subpoena is about recycling stale and debunked Burisma conspiracy theories long peddled by Rudy Giuliani and a Russian agent, sanctioned by former President Trump’s own Treasury Department, as part of the effort to smear President Biden and help Mr. Trump’s reelection campaign,” Raskin revealed.
Announcing ”Here are the facts,” Raskin wrote: “The FD-1023 form, which we reviewed first-hand today, records what a Confidential Human Source told the FBI about conversations he had with individuals in Ukraine. The source, who has been described as highly credible by the FBI, told the FBI he could not provide any opinion on the underlying veracity of the information provided by these Ukrainian individuals.”
“Chairman Comer’s actions prove that his interest in issuing this subpoena was never about seeking the truth, but was always about weaponizing the powers of this Committee to hold Director Wray in contempt as part of MAGA Republicans’ efforts to discredit and ultimately ‘dismantle’ the FBI.”
Indeed, then-President Donald Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an infamous July 2019 telephone call, to “do us a favor.”
“I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it,” Trump said, according to a declassified transcript released by the White House.
On Sunday Rep. Raskin told CNN that Comer “admitted” this is an attempt to help Donald Trump. “It’s all about the 2024 campaign.”
\u201cRaskin on CNN on Comer's politicized investigations: "It's all part of what Chairman Comer admitted was an effort to get Donald Trump's poll numbers up. Its all about the 2024 campaign."\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1685884983
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Reprinted with permission from Alternet.
