House Republicans cancel vote to hold FBI director in contempt

[Timber Rattler]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/house-republicans-cancel-vote-to-hold-fbi-director-in-contempt/ar-AA1cgFOF

House Republicans are scrapping a high-profile vote to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt, ending a weeks-long standoff with the bureau.

The Oversight Committee had been scheduled to meet Thursday on a resolution holding Wray in contempt of Congress as it ramped up a GOP investigation into President Joe Biden. But Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) announced Wednesday night that he was calling off the vote after the FBI offered to let all committee members review a 2020 document at the center of the standoff.

In addition to letting the full panel review the document, known as an FD-1023, describing an interview the FBI had with a confidential informant, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the panel, and Comer will also be able to review two additional documents.

“Allowing all Oversight Committee members to review this record is an important step toward conducting oversight of the FBI and holding it accountable to the American people,” Comer said in a statement announcing his decision.

Comer quickly characterized the deal as a win, saying that the FBI had “caved.” But the Kentucky Republican had previously pledged to hold the contempt vote in his committee unless the FBI physically turned a copy of the document over to the panel. He had announced the Thursday vote on Monday after he and Raskin were able to see the document and got a briefing, but were not given the document.

But people familiar with the offer told POLITICO earlier Wednesday that the FBI was now offering to let the full committee review the document in an apparent bid to find an off-ramp to prevent the committee vote. Comer, in a joint Fox News interview with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) just hours before the agreement was announced, confirmed the bureau had put new potential deals on the table and was actively negotiating.

The deal is in line with a bar set by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who said repeatedly that if Wray let the whole panel see the document, there would not be a need to hold a vote on holding the FBI director in contempt. Speaking with reporters earlier Wednesday, McCarthy pointed to Comer as deserving the credit for any agreement.

“If [Wray] changes his position and provides it for everybody, I want to thank Chairman Comer for being strong,” he said.

EXCERPT

But the FBI still gets to keep the document and the committee members still can't take any notes or photos or talk about it outside the secure viewing room, which suggests that McCarthy undercut Comer and made that compromise with Wray.