Comer threatens FBI director with contempt—again

House Republicans say they’re moving ahead with contempt proceedings against FBI Director Christopher Wray after he refused to simply hand over an internal document. The FBI allowed House Oversight Chair James Comer and Rep. Jamie Raskin, ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee, to view the document. It details an unverified bribery allegation against President Joe Biden, dating to when he was vice president.

“At the briefing, the FBI again refused to hand over the unclassified record to the custody of the House Oversight Committee, and we will now initiate contempt of Congress hearings this Thursday,” Comer told reporters, and Speaker Kevin McCarthy backed him up. Comer’s identification of the document as unclassified is intentionally misleading—few law enforcement documents are classified, but that doesn’t mean it’s appropriate to make public every unverified accusation law enforcement agencies receive. And make no mistake: Handing over the document to House Republicans would be the same thing as making it public. If they didn’t just release it openly, they’d be sure to leak it to right-wing media.