Republican Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson rattled off several FBI scandals to Director Christopher Wray’s face during a Weaponization Committee hearing on Wednesday.
Johnson told Wray the American people have lost faith in the agency following the several instances in which it was involved in suppressing conservatives along with Big Tech and President Joe Biden’s administration. The Louisiana representative pointed to evidence that the FBI is “being used as a political tool” for the Biden administration to target conservatives.
“This is no time to mince words,” Johnson began. “The American people have lost faith in the FBI. All of our constituents are demanding that we get this situation under control and we have to do that. That’s our responsibility. This is not a political party issue, sir. This is about whether the very system of justice in country can be trusted anymore. Without that, no republic can survive. See, the American people that we represent are losing count of the scandals that are mounting.”
The representative named countless of examples of the FBI targeting conservatives, including removing information from social media platforms, arresting pro-lifers and raiding the home of former President Donald Trump. He specifically confronted Wray on former Special Counsel John Durham’s report in May, which concluded the FBI “failed to uphold its mission to strict fidelity to the law” relating to the investigation on whether the 2016 Trump campaign colluded with Russia in the presidential election.
He then pointed to United States Judge Terry A. Doughty of Louisiana’s recent legal injunction, which bars the FBI and other federal officials from communicating with social media platforms for “the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.”
“Director Wray, I find it stunning,” Johnson continued. “You’ve made no mention of this court opinion either in your opening statement today or in this lengthy 14-page report that you prepared on July 12 which is eight days after the court ruling. Have you read the ruling, sir?” (RELATED: Every Major GOP Candidate Would Fire FBI Director Christopher Wray—Except One)
“I am familiar with the ruling and I’ve reviewed it with our Office of General Counsel,” Wray answered.
“Are you deeply disturbed by what they told you about the ruling if you haven’t read it yourself?” the representative asked.
“Obviously, we’re going to comply with the court’s order, the court’s preliminary injunction,” the FBI director said. “We’re going to give guidance to the field and the headquarters about how to do that. Needless to say, the injunction itself is a subject of ongoing litigation, so I’ll decline to comment further.”
The agency worked with the Biden administration and Big Tech platforms to suppress information about COVID vaccines, the 2020 elections, and other conservative leaning opinions deemed to be “disinformation.” The judge ruled it to be a major violation of the First Amendment.
Johnson pressed Wray on the definition of disinformation, to which Wray refused to answer. The FBI director instead said they are focused on disinformation from overseas. Johnson called on Wray to read the opinion based on his answers contradicting the court’s findings.
Wray also claimed findings that the FBI suppressed information on the lab-leak theory is “absurd” because the agency was the only one to conclude COVID-19 likely leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China. Johnson, citing the injunction, said his agents pulled information on the lab-leak from the internet.