FBI Director Says Biden Investigation ‘Ongoing’

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday, asked whether President Joe Biden had benefited from his son's dealings with a Ukrainian energy company, told lawmakers he could not discuss an "ongoing investigation."

Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., pointedly asked Wray whether Biden as president, vice president or a private citizen accepted payments from the Ukrainian firm, Burisma Holdings. Wray declined comment.

“There is an ongoing investigation being led by the U.S. attorney in Delaware, Mr. [David] Weiss, appointed by President [Donald] Trump in the last administration, that our Baltimore field office is working with and I would refer you to him as to what, if anything, can be shared,” Wray said during a tense and partisan Judiciary Committee oversight hearing.

“So the president is under — he is under investigation?” Tiffany asked. 

“I’m not going to confirm or speak to who is or isn’t under investigation for what,” Wray said. 

“So he’s not under investigation?” Tiffany shot back.

“I didn’t say that, either,” Wray replied. “By longstanding department policy and practice, I’m not going to be confirming or denying who is or isn’t under investigation.”

Wray's revelation that an investigation continues underscores what Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware, told Congress earlier this week, which is that his investigation is "ongoing" in spite of Hunter Biden's misdemeanor guilty plea deal last month.

In a letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Monday, Weiss suggested he's investigating an FBI document containing allegations of a Ukrainian bribery scheme involving Hunter Biden and his father.

It is unclear what exactly Weiss's "ongoing" investigation entails. Democrats and Biden lawyers have insisted that Biden-related investigations ended with the announcement of a plea deal, which must be approved by a federal judge at a hearing scheduled for later this month.

Under questioning from Republicans, Wray also assured members of the judiciary panel on Wednesday that the FBI "is not going to be interfering" in the 2024 presidential or any other election.

Republicans have said the FBI deprived millions of Americans from seeing news about Hunter Biden’s laptop shortly before the 2020 election, which they argue influenced the outcome. And the FBI investigated Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Wray said he agreed with special counsel John Durham’s assessment that the FBI failed to uphold its mission of strict fidelity to the law during the 2016 campaign. But he stopped short of agreeing that allegations of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign were a “hoax.” 

“As to the Durham report itself,” Wray said, “the conduct it describes is conduct I consider unacceptable and unrepresentative of who I see the FBI is every day and must not ever be allowed to happen again."

However, the FBI chief said, “it is not seriously disputed that the Russians, among other adversaries, have attempted to interfere in our elections.”

Tiffany suggested Wray was “in denial” for pushing back on the notion that Durham’s report found that the FBI interfered in the 2016 campaign.

“That’s exactly what happened,” Tiffany argued.

“We need to thoroughly review what the FBI is doing,” Tiffany warned. "And at a minimum, I will be allowing FISA to sunset if we’re not going to see significant reforms in the agency.”