FBI Director Christopher Wray infuriated Republican senators on Dec. 5 as he repeatedly evaded their questions on the FBI’s handling of internal investigations of President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, the director was peppered with questions about how those investigations were conducted and whether politics had influenced the process.
“The FBI—do they make a routine practice of allowing partisan political optics to prevent investigating serious evidence of corruption?” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) asked during one particularly fiery exchange.
Mr. Wray replied: “My instructions to our people on this and every other investigation are that we are to follow the facts, wherever they lead, no matter who likes it, no matter what political influence that may be out there.”
The senator then questioned why, if that was the case, the FBI did not obtain the GPS data to corroborate Hunter Biden’s claim in an angry 2017 text message demanding payment from one of his Chinese business associates that he was sitting next to his father.
The message, provided to Congress by an IRS whistleblower, appeared to imply President Biden’s direct involvement in his son’s business dealings with the associate. But according to the whistleblower’s testimony, attempts to obtain the phone data to confirm whether the two were together when the message was sent were blocked by Justice Department officials.
Responding to Mr. Cruz’s question, the director said, “Again, senator, with respect, I can’t discuss an ongoing investigation.”
“But it’s not with respect!” Mr. Cruz interjected. “And Director Wray, you and I have gone round and round on this because anytime you’re asked about this, the answer is, ‘It’s an ongoing investigation.’
“Of course, the investigation isn’t ongoing. You’re not doing the work, you’ve got whistleblowers pointing out that you’re not doing the work, and you’re hiding behind the skirts of the attorney general.”
But that impassioned response did not move the FBI director to increase his candor. On question after question, he reiterated his inability to discuss the details of ongoing investigations, pointing to “longstanding policy.”
“These are policies that were actually strengthened under the last administration,” he noted. “And then my predecessor was faulted in a fairly scathing inspector general report for not following it, so I keep that in my mind when I engaged in this job.”
Seeking Answers
Mr. Cruz was not the only senator to find fault with the director’s responses.As the first person in Congress to have become aware of allegations that President Biden engaged in a criminal bribery scheme, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked Mr. Wray when he had first become aware of the FBI informant’s report (dubbed an FD-1023) detailing those claims.
“I can tell you that I learned of the 1023 much, much, more recently than anything around 2020, that’s for sure,” Mr. Wray said.
But that answer was not specific enough for Mr. Grassley, who teamed up with House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) to subpoena the FBI for the report before releasing it publicly.
“This is a public document. You have an obligation to tell this committee what you knew about it and when you knew about it,” the senator chided before moving on to his next question.
“Are there additional FBI-generated 1023s that reference a bribery scheme involving the Biden family? And if so, how many, and what are their dates?” he asked.
As with Mr. Cruz, Mr. Wray said he could not discuss the ongoing investigation, referring the senator to Justice Department special counsel David Weiss for more information.
As for whether the FBI had ever tried to track down the audio recordings and other forms of evidence referenced in the confidential source’s report, Mr. Wray again stressed that he couldn’t comment on the current investigation. He added, however, that he believed “there was agreement among the team” former Attorney General Bill Barr initially assigned to assess the credibility of the allegations on “what steps needed to be taken.”
Impeachment Vote
As Mr. Wray fielded questions about the allegations against President Biden in the Senate, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the Biden administration’s “stonewalling” had left the House “no choice” but to formalize its impeachment inquiry with a vote.“This vote is not a vote to impeach President Biden,” he stressed. “This is a vote to continue the inquiry of impeachment, and that’s a necessary constitutional step.”
Thus, a formal vote, the speaker said, would better position the House to win any potential lawsuits that the White House might file in response to congressional investigators’ subpoenas.
Also pushing back against claims that the decision to hold a vote was political, Mr. Johnson emphasized: “This is a legal decision. This is a constitutional decision. And whether someone is for or against impeachment is of no import right now. We have to continue our legal responsibility, and that is only, solely, what this vote is about.”
