House Republicans stated on Monday that they might transfer this week to carry the F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, in contempt of Congress, escalating their assaults on the federal regulation enforcement company as they grasp for proof of wrongdoing by President Biden.

Representative James R. Comer, the Kentucky Republican who’s chairman of the Oversight Committee, made the announcement after summoning F.B.I. officers to Capitol Hill for a closed-door briefing on a doc containing an unverified allegation of bribery in opposition to Mr. Biden when he was vice chairman. The Trump Justice Department investigated the allegation, which concerned his son Hunter Biden’s dealings in Ukraine, in 2020, however prosecutors couldn’t substantiate the claims, based on two individuals aware of the matter.

Yet Mr. Comer, who has stated he’s investigating whether or not Mr. Biden traded on his workplace for cash, has repeatedly insinuated that there’s extra to it; on Monday, he asserted that the allegation “has never been disproven.”

At the chairman’s insistence, Mr. Wray’s staff introduced the doc to a safe space of the Capitol on Monday and briefed Mr. Comer and Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the committee’s high Democrat, on it for about 90 minutes. But Mr. Comer complained afterward that the company, citing concern about defending the identification of the informant, declined to permit different members of the committee to view it.

“We will now initiate contempt of Congress hearings this Thursday,” Mr. Comer advised reporters on Capitol Hill, including, “The ball is in the F.B.I.’s court.”

The surfacing of the unsubstantiated allegation in opposition to Mr. Biden is the most recent bid by Republicans to undermine the credibility of the F.B.I., which they’ve sought to vilify after the bureau and the Justice Department started investigations into President Donald J. Trump’s function in making an attempt to overturn the 2020 election and his dealing with of categorized paperwork after leaving the White House.

Republicans have relied on former F.B.I. brokers — a few of whom have embraced Jan. 6 conspiracy theories and have even accepted cash from a Trump ally — to offer info in opposition to the bureau.

Mr. Raskin stated the doc Mr. Comer sought, and Mr. Wray offered, contained an allegation from an informant relaying a dialog with another person, which the informant couldn’t corroborate. He stated the Justice Department underneath former Attorney General William P. Barr “found no reason to escalate it from an assessment to a so-called preliminary investigation.”

“What we’re talking about is secondhand hearsay,” Mr. Raskin stated, including, “That confidential human source said that he had no way of knowing about the underlying veracity of the things that he was being told.”

Calling consideration to the doc is Mr. Comer’s latest effort to maintain public consideration on Hunter Biden’s enterprise actions, which Republicans have made a spotlight of their investigations for years.

“We are not interested in whether the allegations against Vice President Biden are accurate or not,” Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, stated final week on Fox News. “We’re responsible for making sure the F.B.I. does its job.”

Republicans have lengthy alleged that Hunter Biden used his seat on the board of the Ukrainian power firm Burisma — for which he was paid substantial sums — to affect his father. A profession State Department official even raised concerns with a senior White House official in 2015 in regards to the scenario.

The consideration on Hunter Biden from the best reached a excessive level in 2020, after Mr. Trump’s private lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani started circulating supplies in regards to the youthful Mr. Biden, together with images and paperwork from a laptop computer he had deserted at a Delaware restore store.

One particular person aware of the fabric who insisted on anonymity to debate it stated a few of it was junk that was plainly not credible. The bribery allegation in opposition to Mr. Biden was by no means elevated to a preliminary investigation, based on individuals aware of the inquiry, however Mr. Brady did ahead some info from his work to different prosecutors.

Richard P. Donoghue, then a high official within the Trump Justice Department, agreed with Mr. Brady that the matter didn’t have to be investigated additional, based on one of many individuals aware of the matter.

Representative Dan Goldman, Democrat of New York and a member of the Oversight Committee who examined allegations in opposition to Mr. Biden and Burisma as a part of a House impeachment staff in 2019, stated the Republican narrative had fallen flat as a result of Mr. Biden sought to crack down on corruption in Ukraine, not allow it.

“The facts are actually directly contrary to any of the Republican allegations,” Mr. Goldman stated.

After the briefing Monday, Mr. Comer claimed the informant’s allegation “is currently being used in an ongoing investigation,” however Mr. Raskin described Mr. Comer as “recycling stale and debunked Burisma conspiracy theories long peddled by Rudy Giuliani.”

The F.B.I. went to some lengths to make the paperwork accessible to lawmakers, first inviting them to bureau headquarters after which bringing the fabric to the Capitol to accommodate their schedules.

“The F.B.I. has continually demonstrated its commitment to accommodate the committee’s request, including by producing the document in a reading room at the U.S. Capitol,” the bureau stated in an announcement on Monday. “The escalation to a contempt vote under these circumstances is unwarranted.”