If the hearing was a boxing match, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee walloped Wray with jabs and upper-cuts over a number of issues: the still-unsolved identity of the Jan. 6 pipe bomber: the non-arrest of Ray Epps; the Biden family’s corrupt business deals; and a federal court order that stopped the Department of Justice from censoring unwelcomed opinions on social media.
In one of the most blunt exchanges, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) read from Hunter Biden’s alleged WhatsApp text in which Biden directly threatens a Chinese businessman in a demand for payment. “I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled,” the text, which Gaetz read verbatim, begins.
“Sounds like a shakedown doesn’t it, Director?” Gaetz asked Wray.
“I’m not going to get into commenting on that,” Wray predictably replied.
“You seem deeply uncurious about it, don’t you? Almost suspiciously uncurious,” Gaetz pressed. “Are you protecting the Bidens?”
“Absolutely not,” Wray replied.
Even before the hearing began, when Wray praised and defended the FBI in his opening comments, Dan Schneider of the Media Research Center was predicting Wray, a veteran of D.C. politics, would duck and dodge the GOP questioning with a well-practiced smile.
Wray, 56, has served as FBI director since 2017 after President Donald Trump nominated him. He has worked in Washington, D.C. since 2001, when he began working for the Deputy Attorney General's office.
“I expect Christopher Wray to be belligerent but seemingly polite,” Schneider told AFN hours before the hearing started. “And I expect Christopher Wray to be planning on continuing his efforts to undermine American democracy.”
Schneider and MRC documented that attack on democracy after Elon Musk unveiled the so-called “Twitter Files." Those revelations, which were published by independent journalists, revealed backdoor collusion between the federal government and the Twitter executives Musk tossed out the door after gaining ownership of the social media site.
“What the Twitter Files really revealed,” Schneider summarizes, “is a collective effort by government, vis-a-vis Big Tech, to try to destroy the presidency of Donald Trump.”
In one exchange on the topic of FBI censorship, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) asked Wray why the FBI believes it has the authority to ask social media companies, such as Twitter and Facebook, to remove posts in violation of free speech.
“Where do you have the authority?” Issa asked.
Downplaying the FBI’s role, Wray said the FBI passes on information to social media companies when it is alerted by U.S. intelligence sources that a foreign government is the source behind a social media post.
“At the end of the day, we’re very clear it’s up to the social media companies whether to do something about it,” Wray assured the Congressman.
Mirroring Schneider’s comments made before the hearing, tea party activist Tom Zawistowki says Republicans were up against a “professional liar” who leads the FBI.
“He obfuscates. He hides everything,” Zawistoski says of Wray.
As far as what happens next, Zawistowski says Republicans have to make good on their threats to slash the FBI budget if they want truthful answers.
“They’re going to have to use force,” he says, “because Christopher Wray is not afraid.”
