James Comer (a Kentucky Republican) admitted to the media on Sunday that Republicans had lost track of an important witness in a probe into allegations that the Biden family was involved in a bribery plot.

The House Oversight Committee Republicans published a 36-page document on Wednesday accusing the Biden family members of receiving millions of dollars from Chinese and Romanian firms during Joe Biden’s tenure as Vice President under the former president Barack Obama. They claim that these companies posed “potential” threats to the United States.

Newsweek obtained a copy of the memo which includes redacted images relating to transactions in a number bank accounts that are purportedly owned by members of Biden’s family. The memo outlines a secret network of bank accounts linked not only to Biden’s son Hunter, but also to other family members. Comer, chairman of the committee, accused them of using Biden’s position to curry favour with foreign governments and to peddle influence over U.S. Foreign Policy.

The documents released on Wednesday do not provide any evidence that Biden has ever been directly involved in these alleged schemes, or even if they had a tangible impact on U.S. foreign policy.

Comer said that he tried to obtain records from the FBI which he believed could reveal if President Biden received bribes allegedly from foreign companies. He based his claim on information received anonymously from a whistleblower. Comer said that, despite the fact that the FBI document might be difficult to obtain, he believed it could prove the allegations. Comer could instead convince the whistleblower that they should testify in front of Congress.

In a letter to Attorney General Merrick G. Garland, the Kentucky Republican and Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa wrote that they had received information “legally protected, highly credible, and unclassified”, from a whistleblower. The letter also stated that the Department of Justice and FBI had enough information to assess the accuracy and credibility of the information contained in the document.

During an interview with Sunday Morning Futures, Fox News host Maria Bartiromo questioned Comer about the whereabouts of this informant.

Comer replied on Sunday: “Well, unfortunately we can’t find the informant.” “We hope that the informant still exists.” The informant is known to the whistleblower. “The whistleblower is extremely credible.”

Comer also criticized FBI efforts to investigate the allegation before Bartiromo questioned him about the informant again: “Didn’t you just say the whistleblower, or the informant was now missing?”

Comer replied, “Well, I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to find the informant.” He added that the informant worked in “spy work” and “they don’t like being seen very often.”

He added: “Nine of the ten people we identified have excellent knowledge about the Bidens.” Maria, either they are in court or in jail right now, or they are missing. It’s important that the FBI works with us, so that we can identify the research and investigations that they have done. We have people who want to come forward but are afraid for their lives.

The White House has denied the claim. Ian Sams tweeted earlier this month that the accusations were “innuendos and insinuations masquerading as investigations.”

In another tweet, Sams wrote: “For going on 5 years now, Republicans in Congress have been lobbing unfounded politically-motivated attacks against @POTUS without offering evidence for their claims. Or any evidence that decisions were influenced by something other than U.S. interest. They prefer to trade in innuendo.”

Comer said on Sunday that he has only “basic information” about what the informant has alleged. However, it is “a very serious accusation.” He added that the FBI must investigate the allegation to determine if the informant’s credibility is true, and that they “won’t answer our questions.”

Newsweek contacted Austin Hacker by email, the deputy communication director for the House Oversight Committee, and the communications manager for Comer.