With a subpoena citing broad outlines of a "highly credible" whistleblower complaint, House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) on Wednesday dramatically escalated his investigation into President Biden, Politico reports. The summons for documents is Comer’s most direct attempt to investigate the president after largely focusing on Hunter Biden and other family members. Comer and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), in a separate letter released on Wednesday, asserted that the FBI has material outlining “an alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.” The senior Republicans provided no detail on the nature of those allegations. The GOP has made clear that the ultimate goal of its Biden oversight is to find a smoking gun that might link the president to the business deals of his son Hunter, who is under a federal investigation. Comer and Grassley said the “highly credible whistleblower” contacted lawmakers to assert knowledge of a conversation the FBI had with a confidential source. The two Republicans provided no information on the whistleblower’s background, or how that person would have knowledge of an alleged conversation with an FBI source. GOP lawmakers have faced Democratic criticism for applying the whistleblower designation to people who don’t meet the legal definition.
“Based on the alleged specificity within the document, it would appear that the DOJ and the FBI have enough information to determine the truth and accuracy of the information contained within it. However, it remains unclear what steps, if any, were taken to investigate the matter,” Comer and Grassley wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland. The subpoena compels the FBI to require any FD-1023 forms — the formal term for records that describe conversations with a confidential human source — from June 2020 that contain the word “Biden.” The forms themselves, regardless of their content, do not independently amount to evidence of wrongdoing. Comer told Wray that his ongoing investigation would “inform potential legislative solutions that the Committee is exploring,” including the financial disclosures required by presidents, vice presidents, and their family members. Since Republicans took the House majority at the start of the year, Comer has conducted a lengthy investigation, largely behind the scenes, that’s so far focused on Hunter Biden and other Biden family members. He’s expected to detail his findings after the Treasury Department granted him access to “suspicious activity reports,” which don’t indicate wrongdoing but are frequently used in law enforcement investigations