8 June 2023
President Biden on Thursday said the Republican efforts to push an FBI document that lawmakers claim outlines a scheme involving himself and a foreign national is nonsense.
“Where’s the money? I’m joking. It’s a bunch of malarkey,” he said to a shouted question at the end of a press conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the White House.
A New York Post reporter asked the question in light of Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) telling the outlet Tuesday that the president “sold out his country” and that the American people should know what’s in the document.
Republicans, House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have been demanding a document from the FBI, outlining an unverified and unspecified “alleged criminal scheme” involving a foreign national and Biden when he was vice president.
Comer was set to start proceedings to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress over the document Thursday, but it was canceled after the FBI allowed members of the panel to review the record.
The FBI briefed Comer and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, Monday about the document. The FBI had originally declined to provide the document to Comer and Grassley, but Comer said last week that Wray offered to let him see it at FBI headquarters.
The White House on Wednesday attacked Comer’s credibility, saying that he has a “repetitive tactic of laundering thin innuendo.” It also highlighted in a memo that The Washington Post reported the allegation was not supported by facts, NBC reported that the allegation was not substantiated and CNN reported the FBI and prosecutors couldn’t corroborate the claims.
Last week, the White House called Comer’s efforts to get the FBI to hand over the document a political stunt to get airtime on Fox News.