The FBI did not comply with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena compelling the production of an FBI document that a whistleblower alleged describes as a criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national and relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed the FBI for the document, which is an FBI-generated FD-1023 form after a whistleblower alleged that the FBI and Justice Department were in possession of it and claimed it detailed an “alleged criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions.”
They said the whistleblower alleged the document “includes a precise description of how the alleged criminal scheme was employed as well as its purpose.”
Comer gave the FBI until Wednesday at noon to comply with the subpoena, but instead, the bureau sent a letter explaining its “confidentiality interests” and the importance of protecting sources and methods to protect U.S. national security.
An FD-1023 form is used by FBI agents to record unverified reporting from confidential human sources. The form is used to document information as told to an FBI agent, but recording that information does not validate or weigh it against other information known by the FBI.
“This letter responds to your subpoena, authorized on May 3, 2023, demanding the production of documents within one week. As this was your first communication with the FBI seeking this information, please know that the FBI is committed to beginning the constitutionally mandated accommodation process,” the letter states. “The FBI is committed to working to provide the Committee information necessary for your legitimate oversight interests, while also protecting executive branch confidentiality interests and law enforcement responsibilities.”
“The FBI appreciates this opportunity to inform you of our confidentiality interests so that we can ‘seek optimal accommodation through a realistic evaluation of’ each other’s needs and ‘avoid the polarization of disputes.'”
The FBI added: “We are committed to working together through this process.”
“An FD-1023 is one of many forms the FBI uses to collect and catalog information for its law enforcement and national security work. This form is used by FBI agents to record unverified reporting from a confidential human source,” the letter states.
The FBI explained that confidential human sources are “critical to the work of FBI as well as other members of the U.S. intelligence and law enforcement communities.”
“Department of Justice policy strictly limits when and how confidential human source information can be provided outside of the FBI,” the letter states.
“You have asked for what you say is a ‘precise description’ of an ‘alleged criminal scheme’ contained in is a single FD-1023 report. You express concern that the FBI has inappropriately ‘failed to disclose’ such a report ‘to the American people,’” the FBI states.
“It is critical to the integrity of the entire criminal justice process and to the fulfillment of our law enforcement duties that FBI avoid revealing information — including unverified or incomplete information — that could harm investigations, prejudice prosecutions or judicial proceedings, unfairly violate privacy or reputational interests, or create misimpressions in the public.”
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