Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley on Thursday told FBI Director Christopher Wray it is “indefensible” that he previously fled an oversight hearing regarding his agency’s handling of Hunter Biden’s potential criminal activity.
Wray abruptly left a hearing in August, saying he had to catch his scheduled flight for a vacation, while Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley questioned him on the agency’s alleged political bias in connection to Biden. Flight logs reportedly found Wray traveled via the FBI Gulfstream jet to the Adirondacks, where he owns a vacation home.
“Please tell me that’s not accurate,” Hawley told Wray on the matter.
Wray said he informed the Senate Judiciary Committee he had to leave early and said it surprised him that members on the committee were unaware of how he flies.
“So you were going on vacation?” the senator asked.
“I was, yes,” Wray said.
“So you left a statutorily required oversight hearing in order to go on a personal vacation in the Adirondacks,” Hawley said.
The FBI director said he took a scheduled flight to visit his family. Hawley then read a transcript of the moment in the hearing when Grassley confronted Wray on learning of his scheduled trip half an hour before the hearing began.
“The ranking member Chuck Grassley asked you during the hearing, he said, ‘I assume you must have other business.’ You said, ‘Yes.’ He then said, ‘If you have a business trip, you’ve got your own plane, can’t it wait awhile?’ He then said, Chuck Grassley, ‘We only just heard half an hour ago that now you have to leave. We were gonna have a seven-minute round followed by a three-minute round. I’ve got seven people on my side of the aisle, including me, who are waiting for this additional round. Is there any reason we can’t accommodate them for 21 minutes?’ And you said you had a plane to catch, you had somewhere to go, and now we find out it was for vacation?” Hawley said.
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Wray said the scheduled business referred to the following week, when he and Grassley were scheduled to visit with each other in Iowa.
“The reference to other business was not a reference to that day, it was a reference to the following week where Senator Grassley and I were going to see each other in Iowa, when I had other business in Iowa, and I did in fact see him then,” Wray replied. (RELATED: FBI Falsely Labeled Hunter Biden Criminal Activity ‘Disinformation,’ Senior Republican Alleges)
“So wait, you had to leave the hearing early because you’re going to see him later in Iowa, in a week?” the senator continued.
“No, I had to leave when I said I was gonna have to leave, as had been previously organized with the leadership,” he said.
“You left an oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee required by statute so that you could vacation with your family. I find that absolutely unbelievable, and frankly, indefensible,” the senator said.
Hawley continued to press the FBI director on the vacation, asking if he “enjoyed” and “paid” for the flight, then if he would hand over all the receipts of the trip to the committee. Wray said he is “required” to use the FBI plane and that he always pays for the trips.
“I’m glad it’s available for you to jet away from your statutorily required hearings and oversight before this Congress, where you denied the ability of members of Congress to ask you questions because you had to go on a personal vacation using a government plane,” Hawley said.
Hawley criticized the agency for allegedly sending armed agents to arrest pro-life activist Paul Vaughn at his home. Vaughn is one of 11 defendants facing charges for allegedly blocking the entrance of an abortion clinic. Hawley added whistleblower field agents have also accused Wray’s D.C. headquarters of lifting agents off of cases connected to human trafficking and child sex abuse cases to work on January 6 investigations in order, the whistleblowers claim, to give the image that domestic terrorism is a major threat in the country.
Hawley asked the FBI director if he believes he is “still up to this job” as he allegedly evades oversight hearings. The director said he is qualified for the job.
“Well, I don’t, and frankly I think you should have been gone a long time ago. And given your behavior here recently, I think it only makes it more clear,” the senator concluded.