House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) has given FBI Director Michael Wray until noon on July 25 to fully comply with two subpoenas sent to the FBI months ago. If Wray does not comply with the latest demands, Congress threatens to hold him in contempt in a letter dated July 17.
According to Jordan’s letter, the committee filed its first subpoena on February 3 after Wray refused to provide information connected to the FBI’s investigations into suspected threats against the school board. The Bureau’s Initial Response was 4 Heavily Redacted Pages, followed by 10 Additional Pages and an Offer to Provide “In-Camera” Images of an Additional 346.
House Republicans made many attempts, including phone calls, to acquire access to additional of the files in an effort to learn more. Acting Assistant Director of Congressional Affairs Christopher Dunham was called to testify on March 29, 2023, as the committee was still unsatisfied with the initial response, but his hearing yielded no new information.
The committee received more files, but they were highly censored, making much of the material unreadable. The privilege log, which would have offered some background for the redacted information, was also absent.
On January 23, the FBI’s Richmond Field Office disseminated a memorandum, prompting the Committee to issue its second subpoena on April 10. Allegations that the FBI was spying on Catholic clergy and parishioners under the pretext of investigating Catholics as possible extremists prompted the requests. The House Judiciary Committees have declared this action to be in violation of the First Amendment because of its discriminatory intent toward a religious minority. Once again, the bureau provided few documents and heavily redacted others to conceal key details. No progress has been made in pursuing documents that could have helped fill in the blanks.
