House Oversight’s focus on FBI looks like a ‘Giuliani goose chase’: columnist

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer's pursuit of a document alleging that Joe Biden was involved in a $5 million bribery scheme involving a foreign national while serving as vice president is starting to look like a “Giuliani goose chase,” columnist Philip Bump wrote Monday for The Washington Post.

Kentucky Republican Comer, along with Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), were both briefed and allowed to view the document on Monday after Comer repeatedly chastised the FBI for failing to turn it over.

On Monday, Comer said he planned to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress for letting him view it but refusing to submit a physical copy of the document to his panel.

“It’s a weird area of focus, certainly, given that he already knows what the document alleges and could therefore simply conduct his own probe of the claims,” Bump writes.

“But given the hostility to the bureau that has been so useful for Trump to stoke, Comer and other Republicans have instead made the focus of their ire the FBI’s failure to hand over the document without redactions."

Bump contends that Comer’s admission is at odds with his main political argument, writing Comer “insisted that the document was part of an ongoing investigation to heighten its importance — but that then undercuts the idea he needs answers on what happened with it. He admitted last week he’d already seen it, undermining the urgency of the FBI providing it. What’s more, if the FBI is using the information as part of an investigation, that bolsters the bureau’s argument for not releasing it.”

A report last week said the FBI document may have its roots in paperwork filed with the agency by Giuliani.

Bump concludes that “We don’t know much more than we did a month ago, with a few exceptions. First, that it is linked to Giuliani’s endlessly dubious claims. Second, that the broad strokes of this probe have been known for more than a year without any hint of the president being targeted. And third, that Comer’s own rationales for putting pressure on the FBI have only gotten weaker.”

Read the full article here.