July 24, 2024 - The Benny Show - Benny Johnson
03:53:57
Participants
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| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
| Fox News Alert, newly released body cam video. | ||
| I was just talking about this. | ||
| It's showing the moments immediately after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. | ||
|
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The new footage raising even more questions as the FBI Director Christopher Wray is set to testify on Capitol Hill in just a few hours from now. | |
| C.B. Cotton joins us from the site of the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania. | ||
| C.B. Hi, Lawrence. | ||
| Well, this body camera video shows the moments right after gunman Thomas Crooks was killed. | ||
| We've been told that he was identified as suspicious by local law enforcement before the shooting. | ||
| But now this body camera video appears to confirm that Crooks was identified as suspicious to at least some Secret Service agents. | ||
| Watch. | ||
| Yes, Beaver County sniper sent the pictures out. | ||
| This is him. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| That's the sniper that sent the original pictures and seen him come from the bike and set the book back down and then lost sight of him. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| He's the one that sent the pictures out. | ||
| I don't know if you got the same ones I did. | ||
| I think I did, yeah. | ||
| He's got his glasses on. | ||
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So we had the picture of that. | |
| Yeah, I got that. | ||
| Okay, and then this is his bike with the stuff. | ||
| And our sniper seen him walking away from that, I believe. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| But he would be right inside that window. | ||
| He's the one that physically seen this, sent the pictures and called it out. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| And now, another new video from an eyewitness shows people screaming in fear after spotting Crooks and his assault rifle. | ||
| Then you'll hear what sounds like multiple shots. | ||
| Get out of here! | ||
| Get out of here! | ||
| This chilling photo from the eyewitness video shows the moment before Thomas Crooks is killed. | ||
| He turns and points his AR-15 style rifle towards people who are hiding. | ||
| Fox Digital asked the shooter's father if there were any missed warning signs. | ||
| We'll release a statement when our legal counsel advises us to do so. | ||
| Until then, we have no comment. | ||
| We just want to try to take care of ourselves right now. | ||
| So please, give us our space. | ||
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Ronald Rowe has been named the new acting director of the Secret Service after Kimberly Cheadle faced intense scrutiny for the apparent security lapses during the July 13th rally. | |
| Back to you. | ||
| *Gunshot* | ||
| As ever on this program, and this is sort of a maximum of this program, you can choose to laugh or you can choose to cry in these modern biblical era days that we are currently living in. | ||
| And we are living in a biblical era. | ||
| We're living through times that can't be understood through the physical. | ||
| You really have to look spiritually at these things, the forces of good and the forces of evil. | ||
| And they are fighting, and they've always fought. | ||
| And they've fought for, well, since actually the inception of time. | ||
| And so that is the lens that we look through here. | ||
| And since we have the good spree de corps and the victory on our side, we'll choose to laugh. | ||
| And we'll choose to make jokes about the FBI driving a car down the interstate in L.A. with a blind man's stick out the window to try and find out. | ||
| Today we're going to hear from the man in charge. | ||
| The man who's been in charge of, well, January 6th, the Fed op on January 6th. | ||
| The man who's been in charge of the Hunter Patten laptop. | ||
| The man who's been in charge of all this mysterious Joe Biden information. | ||
| The 1023 forms. | ||
| Oh yeah, Mr. Christopher Wray, director of the FBI. | ||
| The G-man is going to be live, hot, on the mic in Congress. | ||
| Is he going to get the same treatment that Kim Cheadle just got? | ||
| That led to a resignation? | ||
| Nigh on 12 hours later, we shall see. | ||
| We shall see. | ||
| Christopher Wray live soon in front of Congress. | ||
| Today is Wednesday, July 24th, 2024. | ||
| Newly released footage from Trump's assassination attempt by a Joe Biden donor. | ||
| People. | ||
| Say it correctly, guys. | ||
| I'll teach you. | ||
| I'll help you. | ||
| Republicans, come unto me. | ||
| I shall help you. | ||
| Call it a Trump assassination by a Joe Biden donor, because the guy donated to Joe Biden in a far-left get-off-the-vote organization on the day of Joe Biden's inauguration. | ||
| You don't say that kind of—you have to actually bake it into the cake. | ||
| Do you understand? | ||
| All right. | ||
| That's why they're going to make me White House press secretary one of these days. | ||
| I'm telling you. | ||
| One of these days. | ||
| I don't want to go back to D.C. But I may have to. | ||
| It's your boy, Benny, and this is The Benny Show. | ||
| Ladies and gentlemen, make sure that in these trying times, and I firmly believe in my heart of hearts, that they tried to put a bullet in Trump's head. | ||
| And the big they, maybe we'll find that out today with Christopher Wray and his testimony. | ||
| But I firmly believe that the big they are agents inside of the government. | ||
| I'm not exactly sure who right now, but people inside the government that created the... | ||
| Conditions for Donald Trump to get a bullet in the head. | ||
| I can prove it to you. | ||
| I can prove it to you. | ||
| Before Christopher Wray takes the mic, and of course, the hearing's supposed to start at 10. It's been 10 minutes from now, so stay tuned. | ||
| Of course, we have our excellent, the best production team in the world that free Papa John's pizza can buy, all right, at this program. | ||
|
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We... | |
| We'll go live to that hearing, just like we did with Kim Cheadle, and we'll stay live, and we'll get the chat rolling, all right, for this is your destination to pull these rats out of their hiding. | ||
| So we'll see what Christopher Wray has to say today. | ||
| But I firmly believe that there are agents inside the government that created the conditions for Donald Trump's death, and they wanted Donald Trump's head to be blown off on live TV. | ||
| I personally believe that. | ||
| Why do I believe that? | ||
| Because I stare into the face of evil every single day. | ||
| And we're able to, like, look at these people, and you're able to see the blackness in their souls, and you realize that, like, they don't want anything other than power, and they're a godless lot, they really are, and they're an immoral lot, they really are, and that God is taking out his sweet justice on them in his own time, and it's up for God, you know? | ||
| Revenge is the Lord's kind of thing. | ||
| But they wanted to blow off Trump's head on TV. | ||
| They wanted to create the conditions for civil war. | ||
| They wanted to create the conditions for massive upheavals. | ||
| They wanted to create the conditions to go and take everyone's firearms. | ||
| These are the times, ladies and gentlemen, we are living in. | ||
| And so inside of those times, it is really important that you remember that the best thing to do is not trust these people. | ||
| And if they're printing your money, and if they're telling you to trust the monetary system, don't trust them. | ||
| Diversify your cash. | ||
| You can do it right now. | ||
| My friends at Allegiance Gold, diversify your cash, what you're making, what you're putting away a little bit into precious metals that they actually can't control, right? | ||
| The precious metals, because they are precious, because they are scarce, and they used to back the dollar. | ||
| They should back your dollars today. | ||
| Trade in your dollars, like I do, just a little bit, right? | ||
| A little diversification. | ||
| For gold and precious metals, go to protectwithbenny.com today. | ||
| Call 844-66-BENNY. | ||
| Right now, get up to $5,000 on free. | ||
| Silver with a qualifying purchase. | ||
| Don't get fooled on crazy stock values or crazy crypto values. | ||
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| All right? | ||
| Allegiance Gold, my dear friends. | ||
| Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we have learned some stunning revelations over the past few hours about Thomas Crooks, this strange young man. | ||
| All we know is he's 20 years old. | ||
| Both his parents are therapists. | ||
| He had no social media. | ||
| Only 20-year-old in modern history to have no social media history. | ||
| The FBI can't quite crack into his phone. | ||
| That's right. | ||
| The FBI can't figure out his little phone there. | ||
| Can't tell you who he was, what he's doing. | ||
| But we can tell you a little bit about him. | ||
| You know, it's incredible because the people who have visited Thomas Crooks or went to his house quite regularly... | ||
| Can be tracked. | ||
| And that's something that's quite curious, actually. | ||
| Right here, according to the Heritage Foundation, apparently somebody who worked within the vicinity of the FBI in Washington, D.C., was visiting Thomas Crooks and was visiting his home and workplace quite regularly. | ||
| You can see here, according to the actual mobile device tracking movements, that Thomas Crooks or somebody close to him Was quite often visiting Washington, D.C., a place called Gallery Place Chinatown. | ||
| I know Washington, D.C. very, very well. | ||
| I actually used to work there. | ||
| I used to work right at that metro stop. | ||
| You know what's right around the corner? | ||
| From that, the FBI. | ||
| Hopefully somebody will ask this question today. | ||
| The question is, keep scrolling, please. | ||
| The question is, why were you visited by somebody who was regularly working in Washington, D.C.? | ||
| Let's continue. | ||
| I want to show you the map. | ||
| There we go. | ||
| So, somebody who worked right here in downtown Washington, with regularity, visited Thomas Crooks and his home. | ||
| What the hell's going on there? | ||
| Well, I don't know. | ||
| But it sure would be nice to know which device this is, whose device it is, and what they were saying to Thomas Crooks. | ||
| Boy, that'd be interesting. | ||
| Can somebody explain that to me? | ||
| Some guy who lives in the middle of, like, a field in Pennsylvania? | ||
| Why is somebody from downtown D.C. going to his house so often? | ||
| A little odd. | ||
| Huh. | ||
| Were these his beach friends? | ||
| Not exactly sure. | ||
| Here's what we do know. | ||
| We do know that Thomas Crooks regularly practiced his riflemanship and his aim at a gun sports center that is also used by law enforcement, by ICE agents for practice. | ||
| And by, this is a fun one, and by members of the Department of Homeland Security, who's tasked with the Secret Service protection. | ||
| The Secret Service is under DHS, and it was actually the Lady Ghostbusters. | ||
| Can we get that clip? | ||
| Get that clip of the Lady Ghostbusters who were defending Donald Trump that day, who couldn't even holster their own weapon, much less fire their weapon in defense of Donald Trump, right? | ||
| They were sending the F team to defend Donald Trump. | ||
| We now know from Josh Hawley and his reporting that these agents, and pop them up on screen. | ||
| I want to see them. | ||
| Show me the Lady Ghostbusters. | ||
| These agents weren't actually Secret Service agents. | ||
| Many of you were looking at these agents being like, what's this Melissa McCarthy looking lady doing here? | ||
| She's not a Secret Service agent. | ||
| She's part of a unit, according to Josh Hawley and Whistleblowers, called Department of Homeland Security Investigations. | ||
| If that sounds like somebody who just sits around plucking Cheetos out of a vending machine and pushing paperwork inside of DHS, you'd be right. | ||
| Yeah, right here. | ||
| Here you go. | ||
| The famous Lady Ghostbusters reboot shot here. | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| These aren't actually Secret Service agents. | ||
| Now here's something else quite... | ||
| Quite remarkable. | ||
| Remember that video of Thomas Crooks up on the rooftop? | ||
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Remember how, like, there were people at the Trump rally? | |
| There were people at the Trump rally that were filming Thomas Crooks ahead of time. | ||
| They were just, they were looking at Crooks as he climbed on the roof. | ||
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Look at this. | |
| This is insane. | ||
| People saw him ahead of time. | ||
| Some creepy... | ||
| Look at all the... | ||
| Dozens, at least dozens. | ||
| Maybe hundreds of people. | ||
| Watching Tom's crooks climb on the roof with a firearm. | ||
| You may say, wow, that's crazy. | ||
| Why didn't Secret Service do anything? | ||
| Well, amazingly, a member of Navy SEAL... | ||
| Sniper team, Eli Crane, who's also a sitting member of Congress, climbed up on that roof just yesterday. | ||
| Not only did he say there's no slope here, but he also said that there's a Secret Service sniper nest that was overlooking the roof. | ||
| Watch this. | ||
| So here's Eli Crane talking about the slope on the roof. | ||
| It's very windy in this video, so we're just gonna like... | ||
| There he is, right there. | ||
| That... | ||
| This video is of the actual, literal view of the Secret Service snipers. | ||
| They should be able to take out Thomas Crooks in level 1 of Duck Hunt. | ||
| This is level 1 Nintendo Genesis Duck Hunt level difficulty. | ||
| You can't get an easier shot than the sniper nest that the Secret Service had, so where the hell were the snipers? | ||
| What were they doing? | ||
| Now we actually know. | ||
| Ladies and gentlemen. | ||
| Now we actually know. | ||
| The body cam right here was released yesterday. | ||
| And what you can see in this body camera footage are the Secret Service officers saying, yeah, we totally tagged this guy. | ||
| From this view, we saw Thomas Crooks. | ||
| From this view, an hour. | ||
| With a rangefinder. | ||
| Ready to shoot Trump. | ||
| Here's the video just released. | ||
| All right, so we don't know. | ||
| So this is the guy that... | ||
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Yes, Beaver County sniper scene that sent the pictures out. | |
| This is him. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| That's the sniper that sent the original pictures and seen them come from the bike and set the book back down and then lost sight of them. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| He's the one that sent the pictures out. | ||
| I don't know if you got the same ones I did. | ||
| I think I did, yeah. | ||
| He's got his glasses on and he's... | ||
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So we had the picture of that. | |
| Yeah, I got that. | ||
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Okay, and then this was his bike with the stuff. | |
| And our sniper seeing him walking away from that. | ||
| So our sniper saw him, the officers are saying, with the dead body still laying there. | ||
| So this is how fresh it all is. | ||
| So Thomas Crooks is still on the rooftop, laying there, dead, and they're like, oh yeah, our sniper saw him an hour before he even took the shot. | ||
| Now we have the most clear footage yet. | ||
| Just released by Fox News. | ||
| Of, on the ground, people legitimately going, there's the sniper! | ||
| There's the assassin! | ||
| Look at him crawling up the roof! | ||
| They saw the guy. | ||
| They knew the guy. | ||
| They tagged the guy. | ||
| They had the perfect shot. | ||
| Not someone on a water tower. | ||
| Not somebody behind Trump on that big red barn. | ||
| Okay, that famous sniper shot. | ||
| That was relatively far away, not for a real sniper, but like relatively far away. | ||
| They were literally on top of him. | ||
| People on the ground were saying, there's the killer! | ||
| He's going to shoot our president! | ||
| And they said, go ahead. | ||
| Watch. | ||
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We just obtained exclusive new video of the assassination attempt 10 days ago. | |
| It is the clearest and closest video we've seen yet, taken by an eyewitness who was there with his family next to the AGR building as Thomas Crooks opened fire. | ||
| You can hear eight shots, what sounds like eight shots, followed by two counter-sniper shots, including the kill shot from the Secret Service. | ||
| Watch and listen. | ||
| Let's go. | ||
| What the f***? | ||
| At one point, Thomas Crooks points his rifle at the eyewitness and those rally-goers. | ||
| This is what he told us about security on that day. | ||
| Definitely wasn't secure. | ||
| I'm actually ex-military. | ||
| One of the first things I noticed when we walked up, I'm like, none of us have been vetted. | ||
| We're all along the fence. | ||
| We all have view of the stage. | ||
| We could see Trump. | ||
| I visited the White House. | ||
| I've interviewed President Trump in the Oval Office. | ||
| I have photos to prove it. | ||
| I've gone to the White House for holiday events. | ||
| Gone to the White House to be in the presence of the President, the First Lady, the First Family. | ||
| Let me tell you what. | ||
| I've also gone to hundreds, at this point, hundreds of MAGA rallies. | ||
| There is no way that they didn't do this intentionally. | ||
| I've never seen security so lapse. | ||
| This is a disgrace, and we need answers. | ||
| Sounds like we're going to get him, ladies and gentlemen, as Christopher Wray is seated right now for his hearing. | ||
| They are doing the Pledge of Allegiance right now. | ||
| We're getting the feed up. | ||
| Christopher Wray is going to make opening statements, and I think we're going to have a barn burner on our hands today for the FBI, who is in charge of this entire investigation. | ||
| You remember? | ||
| Recognizing the fact that we no longer have one of our great members with us, Sheila Jackson Lee, as we all know. | ||
| This is live. | ||
| Ladies and gentlemen. | ||
| She was a dedicated public servant. | ||
| Chairman Jordan. | ||
| Her service on this committee spanned nearly three decades and included shepherding through countless pieces of legislation. | ||
| I said yesterday at a subcommittee hearing that I don't know that there was any member of Congress who got more out of five minutes than Sheila Jackson Lee did. | ||
| And she was just a pleasant spirit who we all enjoyed. | ||
| And we're thinking about her family. | ||
| We all certainly will miss Sheila. | ||
| I yield the ranking member for comments. | ||
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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | |
| Mr. Chairman, this room in our hearts feel a little emptier today as we mourn the loss of our dear friend and colleague, Sheila Jackson Lee. | ||
| In the nearly 30 years that I've served with Sheila on the Judiciary Committee, I witnessed her boundless energy, her courage, and her character as she lent her voice and her legislative talents to nearly every issue that came before this committee. | ||
| Whether it was advocating for just and humane immigration reform, Working to protect voting rights and preserve our civil liberties, but delving into the technical details of administrative law and intellectual property, Sheila was always at the forefront of our work. | ||
| Sheila made perhaps her greatest mark serving as the chair and later ranking member of the Crime Subcommittee. | ||
| In this role, she worked in a bipartisan fashion to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and to protect victims of trafficking, among many other successes. | ||
| She was also a leader on such issues as sentencing reform, gun safety, police accountability, and racial justice. | ||
| She ill-engaged in many spirited debates, but she always had the deepest respect for all of her colleagues, even those to whom she vehemently disagreed. | ||
| She deeply loved the institution of Congress, particularly the Judiciary Committee, because it gave her a platform to make a meaningful impact on the lives of millions of Americans. | ||
| If Sheila took up a cause, she could be relentless in her determination to see it through, whether that meant making one extra phone call, going to one more meeting, offering one more amendment, or making one more speech. | ||
| She would not rest until she thought she had done everything she could to fight for the issues she cared about. | ||
| Through it all, she stayed true to her values and always had the people of Houston close to her heart. | ||
| We were all better for having known her. | ||
| The American people are better for having had her in their corner all these years. | ||
| I will deeply miss my friend and colleague. | ||
| May her memory be a blessing. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| I want to thank the ranking member. | ||
| Well said. | ||
| Now, the chairman recognizes himself for an opening statement. | ||
| July 13th was a terrible day for America. | ||
| We all agree, spirited debate, fighting for what you believe in, are part of what makes this country the greatest nation in the world. | ||
| But the First Amendment and robust political debate There are a lot of unanswered questions about the security failures that day. | ||
| Questions about decisions made before the rally. | ||
| Questions about actions during the rally. | ||
| And questions about statements made after the event concluded. | ||
| Prior to the rally, why was the president's security detail denied requests for extra resources? | ||
| Why weren't all the buildings secured? | ||
| There were a finite number of buildings that needed to be secured. | ||
| Why wasn't that done? | ||
| Why was the president allowed to walk out on the stage when there was a suspicious person on the property? | ||
| During the rally, what exactly happened between 6.09 and 6.14, those critical five minutes. | ||
| We know from briefings from the director and the deputy director of the FBI and other information we've gathered that at 6.09, the shooter was identified on the roof. | ||
| At 6.10, the counter-sniper was notified. | ||
| Counter-sniper teams were notified about the shooter. | ||
| 6.11, the shooter fired several shots, injuring and killing one person, injuring others. | ||
| At 6.12, the counter-sniper took down the shooter, and at 6.14, President Trump was escorted off the stage by Secret Service agents. | ||
| We need to know what happened play by play, moment by moment, second by second, the communications that took place, again, during that critical five minutes. | ||
| And then finally, after the rally, why did both the Secret Service and Secretary of Homeland Security, Mayorkas, lie to the American people? | ||
| July 14th, the day after the attack, Secret Service spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi said this, quote, "The assertion that a member of the former president's security team requested additional security resources that the U.S. Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security rebuffed is absolutely false." The next day, Secretary Maorkas said, "That is an unequivocally false assertion. | ||
| We had not received any requests for additional security measures that were rebuffed." But five days later, Top officials repeatedly rejected requests from Donald Trump's security detail for more personnel. | ||
| And on the 21st of July, the New York Times, confirming what the Washington Post reported, said, quote, Mr. Guglielmi acknowledged that the Secret Service had turned down requests for additional federal security assets for Mr. Trump's detail. | ||
| 180-degree change. | ||
| Why did they initially lie to us in the days after the attack? | ||
| Finally, we hope to learn more today from Director Wray about the shooter, his use of the drone, the explosives that were in his car, how he got on the roof, and a host of other questions. | ||
| It is our hope that Director Wray's testimony can begin to give answers to the American people about all of these questions and concerns. | ||
| So, Director, we appreciate you being here, and we trust that you're going to be as transparent with the committee and the country as you possibly can. | ||
| And I'm sure you understand that a significant portion of the country has a healthy skepticism regarding the FBI's ability to conduct a fair, honest, open, and transparent investigation. | ||
| And that skepticism is based on what they've witnessed over the past several years. | ||
| The American people have seen a Biden-Harris Justice Department that can't tell us who planted the pipe bombs on January 6th. | ||
| They can't tell us who leaked the Dobbs opinion. | ||
| And they can't tell us who put cocaine at the White House. | ||
| Nice. | ||
| Biden-Harris Justice Department who raided President Trump's home. | ||
| Biden-Harris Justice Department who worked with social media companies to censor Americans. | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Biden-Harris Justice Department who let the country believe that the Hunter Biden laptop was misinformation when they knew at the time it was authentic. | ||
| And maybe most importantly, a Biden-Harris Justice Department who retaliated against whistleblowers, who came to this committee and spoke to us about these issues. | ||
| Based. | ||
| Last week, we sent you 12 questions about what occurred on July 13th. | ||
| We expect you to answer those questions and the others that I've just outlined. | ||
| And again, we thank you for being here today and appreciate your willingness to answer the questions that the committee is going to have. | ||
| And with that, I would yield to the ranking member for an opening statement. | ||
|
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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | |
| Mr. Chairman, two weeks ago, our country witnessed the shocking assassination attempt on a presidential candidate. | ||
| Now, I disagree with Donald Trump in almost every policy area imaginable. | ||
| I am frequently shocked and outraged at the plans he has for our country and the words that come out of his mouth. | ||
| I have dedicated much of the last eight years to fighting his agenda. | ||
| But regardless of my strong feelings about Donald Trump's behavior, I unequivocally and unabashedly condemn with every fiber of my being the attempt against his life. | ||
| This was not just an attack on a man, but an attack on our democracy. | ||
| Political violence erodes the very foundations of our nation. | ||
| The concepts of freedom of speech, of peaceful transitions of power, of a democratic government at its core, these cannot exist if political violence is allowed to fester and to go unchecked. | ||
| And if you think that this one assassin's bullet was a bolt out of the blue, and not part of a wave of violence that has threatened this nation for years, then you have missed the point of what my democratic colleagues and I have been imploring you to hear. | ||
| For some time. | ||
| Election workers, many of them working for free, faced near constant threats of violence. | ||
| In one recent instance, an Indiana man pleaded guilty to threatening to kill an election worker who said that there were no irregularities in a recent election. | ||
| That man said, quote, 10 million plus patriots will surround you when you least expect it and will expletive kill you, close quote. | ||
| All right, you're the victim. | ||
| Yep, you're the victim. | ||
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Another instance speaker married to Nancy Pelosi's husband who was bludgeoned over the head with a hammer by an intruder in his home who had been there to capture Ms. Pelosi, interrogate her, and possibly, quote, break her kneecaps because of her liberal views. | |
| That is political violence. | ||
| That guy was the liberal. | ||
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Surging against Vice President Harris. | |
| The member of the Green Party. | ||
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President Obama and his wife Michelle and Governor DeSantis, as well as many others, including videos online of individuals holding guns and making assassination threats. | |
| That is political violence. | ||
| The plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen No way! | ||
| That was an FBI setup! | ||
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...a deadly attack three years ago against this very building, with rioters breaking through police barriers, run through these halls chanting "Kill Nancy" and "Hang Mike Pence" and even hanging a noose outside the building. | |
| It's a literal hoax. | ||
| You're the victim. | ||
| Despicable. | ||
| should surprise no one. | ||
| And you would think a political party that almost lost their presidential candidate through an act of political violence would have something to say about the way their leaders keep talking about the next election. | ||
| Donald Trump is warned there will be a, quote, bloodbath if he loses. | ||
| Republican Ohio State Senator George Lang said just last week at a rally for J.D. Vance that he is, quote, afraid that civil war might be necessary if Republicans lose the November election. | ||
| President of the right-wing think tank and Project 2025 leader, the Heritage Foundation, Kevin Roberts, said on Stephen Bannon's podcast, quote, we're in the process of the second American Revolution. | ||
| Which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be. | ||
| Republican former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said in August of last year of Trump's indictments, do you want us to be in civil war? | ||
| Because that's what's going to happen. | ||
| We're not going to keep putting up with this. | ||
| We do need to rise up and take our country back. | ||
| I could go on, but it's more and more of the same. | ||
| And I hear nothing from the other side of the aisle in this room about these statements. | ||
| You support a bloodbath if you don't get the election outcome you want. | ||
| You justify violence if the left does not agree with you. | ||
| And what exactly has preoccupied this Republican majority while their allies threaten violence to their political enemies, real and imagined? | ||
| We have chased down baseless conspiracy theories designed solely to influence the 2024 election in favor of Donald Trump. | ||
| We have spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours of staff time in more than 100 transcribed interviews. | ||
| Chasing false accusations against President Biden, supporting an impeachment effort that seemed designed to fail, and hunting for smoking gun that simply does not exist. | ||
| And instead of admitting that these investigations found no corruption, coercion, or unethical behavior by the Biden administration, Republicans chose to just dig deeper and spend more money. | ||
| Imagine what could have happened if we had spent these thousands of hours of staff time and those millions of taxpayer dollars Addressing even one aspect of the political violence that now threatens our country. | ||
| Perhaps, had this Republican majority lifted a finger to help a nation that is awash in guns, the assassin of Butler would not have had such easy access to the weapon he used to fire on that crowd. | ||
| Director Wray, your agency is responsible for addressing some of the most serious issues of our time. | ||
| The Bureau of Fights Gun Violence, which claims the lives of 40,000 Americans, It protects election security from growing threats from malign foreign actors who are working tirelessly to influence our elections. | ||
| It protects against domestic terrorists and violent extremists who have been a growing threat in recent years and have carried out horrific mass shootings and deadly events around the country. | ||
| And so, so much more. | ||
| I apologize to you, Director, that instead of supporting you in these missions in the 118th Congress Some of my colleagues have instead hindered your work, maligned your agents, and called to abolish and defund your agency, all for political gain. | ||
| It is despicable, especially from the party that claims to, quote, back the blue. | ||
| And I know that you and your many agents and employees have paid the price for these baseless attacks. | ||
| I know you have faced a barrage of threats, distrust, and vitriol from the public as a result of these wild, politically-driven conspiracies. | ||
| I know it has become even more dangerous and difficult for you to come to work each day. | ||
| I may not agree with you on everything, but I sincerely thank you and every employee in your agency who continues to protect our country. | ||
| The FBI is vital to keeping America safe, and I pray that today we can focus on the real, substantive work of the agency. | ||
| It is the least we owe our country in these times. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Oh yeah, FBI is the real victim. | ||
| The Honorable Christopher Wray has been the Director of the FBI since 2017. | ||
| He previously served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, and Associate Deputy Attorney General, and as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. | ||
| Again, Director Wray, you've been here many times. | ||
| We appreciate you being here today. | ||
| Look forward to your testimony and answering our questions. | ||
| We will begin by swearing you in. | ||
| Would you please rise and raise your right hand? | ||
| Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you're about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and beliefs? | ||
| So help you, God. | ||
| Let the record reflect that the witness has answered in the affirmative. | ||
| Thank you, and please be seated. | ||
| We have votes coming in about 10 minutes, but we definitely want to get through your opening statement as far as we can. | ||
| This is going to be an interesting day on Capitol Hill with the Prime Minister of Israel here as well. | ||
| So, Director, you're recognized for your opening statement. | ||
| Good morning, Chairman Jordan, Ranking Member Nadler, members of the committee. | ||
| I want to begin by offering my condolences on the passing of Representative Jackson Lee, who served the people of Texas in this body and on this committee for so long. | ||
| Where's the condolences for Corey Conpertori? | ||
| For your support of our efforts to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution, I am proud to be here today representing the 38,000 special agents, intelligence analysts, and professional staff who make up the FBI. | ||
| Men and women who, every day, work relentlessly to counter the most complex threat environment I've seen in my tenure as FBI Director, maybe in my entire career in law enforcement. | ||
| Before I go any further, I also want to acknowledge and offer my deepest condolences to the victims of the horrific assassination attempt in Butler County. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| To the friends and family of Cory Comparateur, who by all accounts lost his life protecting others from danger. | ||
| To the other victims, two of whom were critically wounded. | ||
| And of course, of course, to President Trump, former President Trump and his family. | ||
| As I've said from the beginning, the attempted assassination of the former president was an attack on our democracy. | ||
| He said President Trump, he knows. | ||
| And we will not and do not tolerate political violence of any kind, especially a despicable account of this magnitude. | ||
| And I want to assure you and the American people that the men and women of the FBI will continue to work tirelessly to get to the bottom of what happened. | ||
| We are bringing all the resources of the FBI to bear, both criminal and national security. | ||
| Now, there's a whole lot of work underway and still a lot of work to do, and our understanding of what happened and why will continue to evolve, but we're going to leave no stone unturned. | ||
| The shooter may be deceased, but the FBI's investigation is very much ongoing. | ||
| To that point... | ||
| I also want to acknowledge that I recognize both the congressional and the public interest in this case and the importance of this investigation to the American people. | ||
| And I understand there are a lot of open questions. | ||
| So while the investigation is very much ongoing and our assessments of the shooter and his actions continue to evolve, my hope here today is to do my best to provide you with all the information I can. | ||
| Given where we are at this point. | ||
| I have been saying for some time now that we are living in an elevated threat environment. | ||
| And tragically, the Butler County assassination attempt is another example, a particularly heinous and very public one, of what I've been talking about. | ||
| But it also reinforces our need at the FBI and our ongoing commitment to stay focused on the threats, on the mission. | ||
| And on the people we do the work with and the people we do the work for. | ||
| Every day, all across this country and indeed around the world, the men and women of the FBI are doing just that, working around the clock to counter the threats we face. | ||
| Just in the last year, for example, in California, the FBI and our partners targeted an organized crime syndicate responsible for trafficking fentanyl, meth, and cocaine all across North America. | ||
| We charged the Mexican-based suppliers who brought the drugs into the United States, a network of Canada-based truck drivers who delivered the drugs, and the distributors in the United States who spread the poison into our communities. | ||
| Staying on threats emanating from the border, I have warned for some time now about the threat that foreign terrorists may seek to exploit Just last month, | ||
| for instance, the Bureau and our Joint Terrorism Task Forces worked with ICE in multiple cities across the country as several individuals with suspected international terrorist ties were arrested using ICE's immigration authorities. | ||
| Leading up to those arrests, hundreds of FBI employees dedicated countless hours To understand the threat and identify additional individuals of concern. | ||
| Now, the physical security of the border is, of course, not in the FBI's lane. | ||
| But as the threat has escalated, we're working with our partners in law enforcement and the intelligence community to find and stop foreign terrorists who would harm Americans and our interests. | ||
| As concerning Staying ahead of today's threats demands that we work together. | ||
| And for the FBI, that means doubling down on our partnerships, especially We're taking the fight to the cartels responsible for | ||
| trafficking the dangerous drugs like fentanyl pouring into our country and claiming What about trafficking the dangerous humans? | ||
| At the Bureau, we're proud to work side by side with our brothers and sisters in federal, state, and local law enforcement, our partners in the intelligence community, and others. | ||
| Around the world to fulfill our commitment to keep Americans safe. | ||
| On Friday, the FBI will celebrate its 116th anniversary. | ||
| 116 years of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution. | ||
| 116 years of working with our partners to safeguard the communities we serve. | ||
| 116 years of innovating to stay ahead of the complex, evolving, and very real threats out there. | ||
| I am proud of the legacy the men and women of the FBI have built and all they have accomplished for the American people. | ||
| So, if I may, as we approach this week's anniversary, I would just like to say to all those who are part of the FBI family, from our current employees to our formers, And to our partners across law enforcement and the intelligence community, thank you. | ||
| Thank you for dedicating your lives to this country and to its people. | ||
| It is both humbling and an honor to serve alongside you, and I look forward to the work we're going to continue to do together. | ||
| And with that, thank you again for having me, and I look forward to our discussion. | ||
| I look forward to the new hoaxes. | ||
| We're now proceeding under the five-minute rule. | ||
| The gentleman from... | ||
| North Carolina is recognized for five minutes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | |
| Director Wray, I'm way down here. | ||
| I appreciate the chairman giving me this because I've got to leave. | ||
| But let me ask this question. | ||
| Why doesn't the FBI disclose to the American people all of the investigative detail and evidence that you are gathering as it is gathered? | ||
| Well, we have tried to be transparent with both Congress and the American people as we're going along in the investigation, frankly, unusually so for an ongoing investigation, given the sheer nature of it. | ||
| We have provided a lot of information. | ||
| I expect to continue to provide information. | ||
| I expect to be able to provide some additional information here today in response to your questions and your colleagues. | ||
| But part of the issue is that, like in any investigation, as we proceed, facts evolve. | ||
| Our understanding of what somebody said turns out to have more context than we didn't have before. | ||
| We have additional leads out there. | ||
| So part of our goal is not just to respect the ongoing investigation process, but also to make sure that we don't prematurely provide information that then, two days later, turns out to be different than what we... | ||
| Because that's very much kind of a natural part of any investigation. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So did Crooks fire eight shots? | |
| We have recovered eight cartridges on the roof. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Why was Crooks allowed to get off eight shots? | |
| Good. | ||
| Good question. | ||
| Well, that, I think, is something we're still digging into. | ||
| Again, maybe this is a good place for me to make clear the different investigations that are going on. | ||
| So, because certainly I understand. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, and I, given that I've only got three minutes left, and I know other members, I'm really interested, because I appreciate your invitation. | |
| You said you're prepared to disclose things as questions are asked, so I don't want to waste time, sort of, I just want to get to the questions that might, and as many members as can, ask questions that you'll answer. | ||
| I actually think you, I'd be glad for you to go on soliloquy, frankly, and tell us what you know. | ||
| I think the American people want to know. | ||
| Why was President Trump not kept off the stage? | ||
| All right, eight shots. | ||
| We don't know the answer to that. | ||
| Eight shots! | ||
| And this is important because I think it goes to questions that I can and cannot answer. | ||
| Our investigation, the FBI's mandate, is focused on the shooter and all things related to his attack. | ||
| Now, obviously, I understand very much the intense interest and focus on the Secret Service's performance, actions, decision-making, etc. | ||
| There are two separate... | ||
| After action reviews, the DHS inspector general and the outside independent panel that's been convened that are focused on that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Now, our investigation will obviously overlap with that. | |
| Here's the problem. | ||
| We're out 13 days, and you say we've been disclosing. | ||
| You know, we had the director or the colonel from the Pennsylvania State Police in front of Homeland yesterday. | ||
| He was quite candid. | ||
| He disclosed to us that Butler... | ||
| Emergency services unit personnel were posted into the windows on the second floor of the AGR building. | ||
| That they left there to go pursue the person that they spotted, Crooks. | ||
| That they texted a photo of Crooks to the PSP representative in the command center. | ||
| That information was relayed to the United States Secret Service. | ||
| They asked that it be texted to someone else. | ||
| That was many minutes before President Trump took the stand. | ||
| What we don't know is why were they not keeping him off the stand? | ||
| And to the extent, you know, I know we always hear when there's a criminal investigation, you've got to wait for that to develop. | ||
| But do you have any other target of your criminal investigation other than Crooks, who's dead? | ||
| We are investigating the shooter both to determine his motive and his preparations and activities before the shooting, but also to make sure. | ||
| Whether or not there are any co-conspirators, accomplices. | ||
|
unidentified
|
At this point, have you developed any evidence to suggest that there are any accomplices or cooperators or assisters? | |
| Not at this time, but again, the investigation is ongoing. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So here's the thing. | |
| While we wait, maybe for months, and I hate to say this, I'm not trying to take a pot shot, but the country went for years. | ||
| With the understanding that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation as offered by respected former Intel officials, and the whole time the FBI had the laptop. | ||
| Yes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And let that happen in public until finally offering testimony in a case. | |
| To the degree we wait to hear as a country and as a Congress, what has happened in this event, because the FBI is conducting an investigation, it provides quarter for the U.S. Secret Service. | ||
| Not, perhaps, to reckon with the problems that are obvious to everyone. | ||
| So, let's get a couple in while I've got 13 more seconds. | ||
| One more question, perhaps. | ||
| Senator Grassley says that the records today show that there was a counter-unmanned aerial surveillance operator on site. | ||
| Was there? | ||
| And why did that person not prevent Crooks from being able to use a drone? | ||
| Yeah. | ||
| So again, questions about the Secret Service's performance are better directed to those other reviews. | ||
| What I can tell you when it comes to drones is that Crooks himself had a drone, and I'm prepared to answer questions here today about the shooter and his use of the drone, for example. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Wow. | |
| Ask! | ||
| Ah! | ||
| Okay, we need to find out more about that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | |
| Why doesn't Jordan ask questions? | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's entirely unacceptable, no matter the source or the target. | |
| Last October, far-right conspiracy Oh my God! | ||
| Oh my God! | ||
| Yeah, you're right. | ||
| You're the victims. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The main was simply a, quote, Second Amendment enthusiast. | |
| In recent weeks and months, those on the right have repeatedly called for, quote, civil war. | ||
| With an Ohio State Senator saying that if Republicans lose the election, quote, it's going to take a civil war to save the country and it will be saved. | ||
| The president of the Heritage Foundation likewise said that, quote, we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be. | ||
| Dude, this is your opening statement. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So I appreciate the question, and this is an issue that I've been talking about for some time. | |
| I'm sure you appreciate it. | ||
| There is a right way and a wrong way under the First Amendment to express your views, no matter how passionate or even angry you are. | ||
| And violence and threats of violence is not the right way. | ||
| And we don't care what you're upset about or who you're upset with. | ||
| From the FBI's perspective, when it turns to violence and threats of violence, that's when we have to draw the line. | ||
| That's when we get engaged. | ||
| And there is an alarming phenomenon that we've seen over the last several years of that kind of passion and heated rhetoric turning into actual violence and threats of violence. | ||
| We've seen it against public officials of all sorts. | ||
| We've seen it against law enforcement. | ||
| The number of officers shot and killed in the line of duty in this country is... | ||
| Frankly, outrageous and alarming. | ||
| And I know that because every time an officer is shot and killed anywhere in this country, since the day I started as FBI director, I personally call the chief or the sheriff to express my condolences and to talk to them about the victim's family. | ||
| And the number of those shootings that are ambush-related, meaning somebody is targeting law enforcement because they're law enforcement, is particularly alarming. | ||
| I have made around 400 of those phone calls. | ||
| It's almost every five days that a law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty. | ||
| And that is an example of the kind of ways in which passions and heated rhetoric can bubble over into violence. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Members of Congress, their families and their staff have witnessed an alarming rise in threats against them. | ||
| Yes, you're the victim. | ||
| Yes, you're the victim. | ||
|
unidentified
|
In all this. | |
| So we have a very close relationship with the Capitol Police. | ||
| And we have members of the Capitol Police, for example, who are on some of our task forces. | ||
| We share intelligence information. | ||
| About things that we're seeing, trends that we're seeing with Capitol Police and others in law enforcement. | ||
| Obviously, if we have specific information about an effort to target a member of Congress, then we're getting with Capitol Police in a much more specific way. | ||
| But those are some of the things that we're doing. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Trump takes a bullet to the head and Nadler says he's the victim. | ||
|
unidentified
|
There we go. | |
| What impact would defunding or even just limiting your funding have on the FBI's ability to conduct this and other investigations? | ||
| So, I understand that there are heated views, opinions about us, just like there are about every institution in today's America, but cutting our funding is incredibly short-sighted, and the people it really hurts are state and local law enforcement and the American people we're all sworn to protect. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| During my remaining time, I want to turn to a different matter. | ||
| In recent days, Republican members of Congress have attacked presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris as a quote DEI candidate. | ||
| So presumably it's my person of color. | ||
| Heavens. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's not a new theme for them. | |
| In May, Chairman Jordan wrote to you claiming that because of DEI initiatives, the FBI is no longer hiring, quote, the best and brightest candidates. | ||
| With my remaining time, Director, can you please answer the following questions? | ||
| Is it true that hiring women and people of color means that FBI is no longer hiring the best and the brightest to serve as law enforcement officers? | ||
| Is there any evidence that women and people of color are less effective in law enforcement roles? | ||
| And what message does it send to prospective applicants when the leaders demean them and make judgments about them based solely on the race or gender? | ||
| Witness may respond. | ||
| Any notion that we have lowered our standards, our hiring standards, is just not accurate. | ||
| In fact, our standards are as competitive and selective as ever. | ||
| We have tens of thousands of people applying, and our selection rate is about 3.1%, which is more selective than just about any university in the country. | ||
| And most of our applicants, I think something like 50% of them are coming from military or law enforcement backgrounds. | ||
| About 50% of them also have advanced degrees. | ||
| The average age is around 31, which... | ||
| It means they're bringing a wealth of personal and professional experience when they arrive. | ||
| And to suggest that those people, because of efforts related to diversity or anything like that, are less qualified, frankly, is not at all consistent with what I see. | ||
| Having visited all of our field offices and seeing these young people in action, I think, is an insult to those hardworking men and women who've signed up to dedicate their lives for this country. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Director. | |
| I yield back. | ||
| Kamal Harris is a DEI hire. | ||
| Joe Biden said- Tell me about the drone. | ||
| You act like he wanted to- Here we go. | ||
| Jim Jordan. | ||
| Jim Jordan. | ||
| So we have recovered a drone that the shooter appears to have used. | ||
| It's being exploited and analyzed by the FBI lab. | ||
| The drone was recovered in his vehicle. | ||
| So at the time of the shooting, the drone was in his vehicle with the controller. | ||
| In addition, our investigation has uncovered... | ||
| You know what time of day he flew it and if he flew it on the day of the shot? | ||
| So in addition, it appears that around 3.50 p.m., 4 o 'clock in that window on the day of the shooting, that the shooter was flying the drone around the area. | ||
| About 11 minutes. | ||
| I want to be clear, but when I say the area... | ||
| Not over the stage and that part of the area itself, but I would say about 200 yards, give or take, away from that. | ||
| We think, but we do not know. | ||
| So again, this is one of these things that's qualified because of our ongoing review, that he was live streaming, viewing the footage from that, again, about 11 minutes. | ||
| In around the 3.50, 4 o 'clock p.m. range. | ||
| Two hours before, he's flying a drone in the vicinity of the route. | ||
| About 200 yards away. | ||
| This is insane. | ||
| This is insane. | ||
| What about the bombs that we've heard about in the shooter's car? | ||
| So again, the FBI lab is exploiting those explosive devices. | ||
| We've recovered three devices, two in his vehicle and one back in his residence. | ||
| Are these what you would call, your experts would call, sophisticated operations? | ||
| I don't know. | ||
| That's what I've been told by people who have some understanding of this area. | ||
| Yeah, I think we've seen more sophisticated and less. | ||
| I would say these are relatively, again, keyword, relatively crude devices themselves, but they did have... | ||
| The ability to be detonated remotely. | ||
| And so to that point, in addition to the two devices that we recovered out of his vehicle, there were receivers for those two explosive devices with the devices. | ||
| And then on the shooter himself, when he was killed by law enforcement, he had a transmitter with him. | ||
| Now, I do want to add one important point here, is at the moment... | ||
| It looks to us, again, ongoing review, and I can't say that too many times. | ||
| At a moment, it looks like because of the on-off position on the receivers, that if he had tried to detonate those devices from the roof, it would not have worked. | ||
| But that doesn't mean the explosives weren't dangerous. | ||
| I'm sure we're going to get into all these subjects a little bit later as well. | ||
| Tell us what you can about the encrypted platforms we've heard about. | ||
| So one of the things that we're drilling into hard with the shooter in an effort to try to learn more about his state of mind, his motive, his ideology, his context, everything else, is to look at all of his devices, any social media accounts he had, etc. | ||
| And one of the things we've learned in finally getting into his phone, which was also a significant technical challenge from an encryption perspective, but... | ||
| In addition, once we got on the phone, it turned out he was using some encrypted messaging application. | ||
| And again, the same question relative to the bombs. | ||
| Was this pretty sophisticated? | ||
| Or is this kind of the norm you see with folks like, you know, similar situation? | ||
| On this subject, I would say this has unfortunately now become very commonplace. | ||
| And it's a real challenge for not just the FBI, but state and local law enforcement. | ||
| Tell me exactly the scope of, does the scope of your investigation include what I call that critical five minutes from when the 609, when this is based, I think, on information you've given to Congress, 609, when the shooter's identified on the roof and said, Do you have access to the communications that were going on at the time in that critical five minutes? | ||
| So our investigation, when you say scope, our investigation... | ||
| Includes that timeframe, although focused again on the shooter himself. | ||
| He's obviously involved in that timeframe. | ||
| Correct. | ||
| And as part of that, as part of our focus, our investigation of the shooter and the attack, of course, we are interviewing law enforcement from the scene because those are some of the most significant witnesses. | ||
| And we're obviously getting access to their materials and that kind of thing. | ||
| You have access to the communications that exist there. | ||
| That exact question, I don't, as I sit here at the moment, I don't know the exact answer to that question, but I know that Secret Service has been cooperative with us. | ||
| The Congress would like access to those communications as well. | ||
| I mean, not just that five minutes, although I think that's the critical time frame. | ||
| There's lots of communications we'd love to have access as well. | ||
| I see my time is up, and they have called votes on the floor. | ||
| I think there are about six minutes left in votes, so we will, the committee will stand in recess until approximately 10 minutes after votes conclude on the House floor. | ||
| All right, ladies and gentlemen, so we've been communicating with Jim Jordan's staff. | ||
| We knew this was coming. | ||
| We have, obviously, programming for you. | ||
| This is part of the reason why the dais up there looks so empty, because there are votes on the House floor. | ||
| They're inside of a committee hearing room, and members of Congress get, like, expedited process to get to the House floor. | ||
| They vote in five minutes, and then they're back in ten. | ||
| So we'll be back in what will be approximately 15 minutes with Director Wray. | ||
| We've just heard some massive... | ||
| Massive bombshells. | ||
| Eight bullet casings. | ||
| Eight shell casings. | ||
| From the assassin's rifle. | ||
| We did not know that. | ||
| You remember Cheetle? | ||
| You remember Kim Cheetos? | ||
| Sat up there and goes, I don't know. | ||
| I don't know. | ||
| How many shell casings there were? | ||
| Scum. | ||
| Scum. | ||
| Oh, it was despicable. | ||
| That was just 24 hours ago. | ||
| She said she had no idea how many bullets were fired at Trump's body. | ||
| Corey Compertor shielding his family and potentially President Trump. | ||
| We don't know exactly. | ||
| We look forward to some sophisticated schematics of this. | ||
| But as of right now, Corey Compertor, who is an American hero, who followed us on social media, he followed our channels. | ||
| We've checked. | ||
| And it rips our hearts out. | ||
| It guts us. | ||
| We've donated to his fund. | ||
| We'll do, on behalf of the entire company, we'll do anything that we possibly can to help his family. | ||
| Ladies and gentlemen, we are in touch with the victim's family. | ||
| So, the best that we can do right now is to bring, to do our best to bring total light to the failures of the federal government, potentially a conspiracy inside the federal government. | ||
| To put a bullet in Trump's head. | ||
| Cory Compertor took a bullet for Trump. | ||
| We must remember him. | ||
| I'm glad to hear him remembered. | ||
| To be quite frank with you, I'm disgusted. | ||
| I was sickened a little bit by the July 13 hearing an oversight with Kim Cheadle on Monday. | ||
| I am repulsed. | ||
| In the Secret Service hearing, There was, like, a little bit of, like, touch and go with, like, guns are bad and we should control guns and eliminate the Second Amendment. | ||
| There was a little bit of that, okay? | ||
| From, like, the lower IQ, smooth-brained, your mouth-breather element of the dais there. | ||
| This, the conflation of Nadler, is enraging to me. | ||
| He talked about the Fed-napping hoax with Whitmer. | ||
| Where all of the people involved there were FBI agents. | ||
| Do you know these guys are walking free? | ||
| Because the judges are like, hold up, you were set up by the FBI here. | ||
| How dare he mention that? | ||
| What about the Nancy, so he's mentioned Nancy Pelosi's husband getting hit with a hammer. | ||
| That did happen. | ||
| It's on film, it's on body camera, okay? | ||
| But he was hit with a hammer by a guy who had a BLM flag, gay pride flag in his yard, who was by his own children's account. | ||
| A Green Party leftist activist. | ||
| Guy was living, he's a nudist living in a camper with a BLM flag on it. | ||
| And Jerry Nadler's trying to make that out to be right-wing violence? | ||
| You filthy, despicable scumbag! | ||
| Jerry Nadler, dude. | ||
| Can't even, like, get it. | ||
| He has to have this giant text in front of him while he's reading. | ||
| The guy's shaped, the guy's literally shaped like the penguin out of Batman Returns. | ||
| Looks just like the penguin. | ||
| Member of the Lollipop Guild? | ||
| Too many lollipops. | ||
| Jerry Nadler, what a piece of garbage. | ||
| I expect that to be the vein here. | ||
| So Democrats always get together and think about the most evil things that they can do, and this is what they've done. | ||
| What they're going to do is they're going to conflate our president taking a bullet to the head. | ||
| And by the way, your president too, Jerry Nadler, taking a bullet to the head. | ||
| With left-wing violence. | ||
| Violence that was either facilitated by the left, right, with the Fed-napping hoax with Whitmer. | ||
| Federal violence, where federal agents stormed a handicapped man in Utah. | ||
| Okay, so here are the facts of that case. | ||
| That came up too. | ||
| There was a man in Utah that was posting things you shouldn't post about Joe Biden on the internet. | ||
| I'm going to say it. | ||
| Just like I say people who punch cops don't care if you're wearing a MAGA hat or BlackBlock. | ||
| Like, don't punch a cop. | ||
| I disavow all political violence. | ||
| You'll never find anybody making an excuse for violence on this channel. | ||
| This is not what we're going to do, ever. | ||
| Right? | ||
| But this guy was posting things you shouldn't post on the internet. | ||
| Alright? | ||
| I read some of his posts. | ||
| Whatever. | ||
| Alright? | ||
| Bad news. | ||
| Okay? | ||
| Shouldn't do that. | ||
| Platforms, whatever. | ||
| Like, you shouldn't be able to make death threats and stuff. | ||
| Right? | ||
| Okay. | ||
| That's fine. | ||
| I can go there with you. | ||
| The FBI raided his house and murdered him. | ||
| That I cannot get on with. | ||
| So Jerry Nadler sitting there saying that the FBI acted judiciously there. | ||
| Go look it up. | ||
| This is this guy in Utah. | ||
| The guy was handicapped. | ||
| He was in a wheelchair. | ||
| And the FBI kick in his door and kill him. | ||
| So this is what Jerry Nadler is using as like a justification for both sides-ism is what this is called. | ||
| These people are such despicable. | ||
| Despicable filth. | ||
| So expect that. | ||
| So Nadler is the chairman. | ||
| Expect him to, like, effectively, like, pump that into his members. | ||
| And that's what they'll say the entire rest of the time. | ||
| Now, I want to move over to the Republican side of the dais because it seems like Dan Bishops was the one asking questions there. | ||
| We're going to actually get answers from the FBI. | ||
| And this is quite remarkable. | ||
| I want you guys to look at this and put up this article. | ||
| I want you guys to know that we're properly sourced here on these comments. | ||
| You will get the truth from this channel. | ||
| The truth is sometimes very unfortunate and uncomfortable for us. | ||
| We will tell you the truth, okay? | ||
| We will tell you the truth. | ||
| Here's this dude. | ||
| Here's this dude who was handicapped. | ||
| A handicapped old guy. | ||
| He's in his 70s. | ||
| The FBI kicks in his door and kills him. | ||
| All right? | ||
| Utah man. | ||
| Shot dead by FBI in raid? | ||
| For posts on Facebook? | ||
| The guy couldn't even get down. | ||
| The guy had ramps all over his house. | ||
| Okay? | ||
| So this is the example that Jerry Nadler's using. | ||
| The FBI going in and absolutely smoking a guy who was handicapped, who posed zero threat to anyone, and they murdered him for his Facebook post. | ||
| There you go. | ||
| There you go. | ||
| There's your image. | ||
| There's your image of the dude. | ||
| Unbelievable. | ||
| Truly. | ||
| Truly repulsive behavior by Democrats. | ||
| We're the victims! | ||
| We're the victims! | ||
| It's amazing what brain rot this party has. | ||
| Now, I did find it quite remarkable that Christopher Wray, in his opening statement, and I'm not trying to give him a pat on the back, but he spent most of his opening statement talking about our open borders. | ||
| And to his, I guess, small credit, this dude has been saying, like, the Biden administration is letting terrorists into the country. | ||
| The Biden administration is letting all these terrorists into the country. | ||
| Not worth a gold star, because you're just noticing things that are real, and it's your job, but at least he's able to say it. | ||
| You have a bureaucrat that's saying it, and he's been saying it for a while. | ||
| We've been tracking this dude. | ||
| Dude's been saying it for a long time. | ||
| Like, they're letting terrorists into the country, and he spent the majority of his opening statement talking about how the border is allowing a bunch of terrorists and drugs and cartels into our nation. | ||
| Um, good. | ||
| You should still be fired. | ||
| There's a poll at the top of the chat right now. | ||
| Should Director Wray be fired? | ||
| It has 10,000 votes. | ||
| Most people say, yeah, 97%. | ||
| This is also the guy, of course, that ordered the deadly raid on Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago to create a blue-on-blue situation where the Secret Service, who we now know to be totally run by incompetence, would be facing off with FBI agents. | ||
| Guns drawn. | ||
| Guns drawn. | ||
| Potentially putting the president, the president's children, the president's wife. | ||
| Lives at risk. | ||
| This is the guy who, like, raided Melania Trump's boudoir and Baron Trump's desk drawers at Mar-a-Lago. | ||
| Go look for all the state secrets that Baron Trump's stashed away next to his fidget spinner in Game Boy. | ||
| I don't think that's what kids do these days. | ||
| Maybe not Game Boy. | ||
| Nintendo Switch. | ||
| Is that right? | ||
| Next is Nintendo Switch. | ||
| Is that what he's gonna do? | ||
| Alright. | ||
| PS5. | ||
| I'm an old. | ||
| Ladies and gentlemen, this is not me trying to defend Director Wray. | ||
| This is quite interesting to me because the border czar has now initiated a coup against Joe Biden. | ||
| There was a coup. | ||
| Amazing how they brought up January 6th as well. | ||
| Still no answers from the FBI on January 6th. | ||
| So they bring up January 6th as well, but the actual coup, this party has been talking about democracy The threats against democracy and a coup. | ||
| For the last four years straight, they have broken their brains about how we are somehow threats to democracy and wanting to stage a coup. | ||
| And over the last 72 hours, they literally eliminated the votes of 15 million people, 15 million of their Democrat party. | ||
| Loyalists voted for Joe Biden. | ||
| They evaporated and atomized those votes. | ||
| And then they installed somebody that nobody elected. | ||
| Kamala Harris, who got fifth in the California primary for president, who didn't make it to Iowa in their election cycle, who didn't get a single delegate in 2020, not one delegate at the DNC convention in 2020. | ||
| Kamala Harris, who no one has voted for, And nobody elected. | ||
| Who is the border czar? | ||
| Who Chris Wray, just low-key, took a baseball bat to her record. | ||
| Not calling him based. | ||
| I'm just saying, alright, you know, bro clocks are right twice a day. | ||
| That is a correct, like, he really went hard in on the open border. | ||
| Good. | ||
| Right? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good. | |
| Without saying, Kamala Harris is the reason for it. | ||
| She is the border czar. | ||
| So that's quite unique. | ||
| There's a Trump campaign ad. | ||
| The moment I saw that, I'm like, dude, there's a Trump campaign ad. | ||
| I'm texting members of Congress. | ||
| I won't say who. | ||
| I'm texting members of Congress right now saying, you should ask. | ||
| Hey, the borders are Kamala Harris. | ||
| You spent eight minutes of your opening statement talking about our open border. | ||
| Are you okay? | ||
| Are you happy with the borders are Kamala Harris? | ||
| The new anointed queen, slay queen of the Democrat Party. | ||
| Are you happy with her record there? | ||
| You should totally ask that. | ||
| Texted a couple members on the committee. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We'll see if they oblige. | |
| But ladies and gentlemen, that was very interesting. | ||
| Let's go to the Republican side of the aisle, okay? | ||
| Because I wanted to, like, lay waste. | ||
| I wanted to lay waste to the Democrat side. | ||
| I think we've done that. | ||
| Let me know if I missed anything. | ||
| I'm watching the chat right now. | ||
| Here we go. | ||
| So, we lay waste to the Democrat side of the aisle and the Republican side of the aisle. | ||
| These are great questions. | ||
| How many bullet casings were there? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Eight. | |
| Dude was able to get off eight shots. | ||
| Was there a drone? | ||
| Yes, there was a drone. | ||
| He was able to fly a drone over Donald Trump's rally two hours beforehand? | ||
| He had explosives in his car? | ||
| The explosives could be remotely detonated? | ||
| Seems pretty sophisticated to me. | ||
| Who was he working with? | ||
| You're trying to tell us that a 20-year-old, some 20-year-old, clearly low IQ, pizza-faced mouth breather, is able to build his own explosives? | ||
| To climb on the rooftop and do this all by himself? | ||
| We're getting more answers out of Chris Wray than we got out of like five hours with Kim Cheadle. | ||
| So I look forward to them coming back. | ||
| They're coming back here in moments. | ||
| If you're just tuning in, here's what's going on. | ||
| All right? | ||
| Here's what's going on. | ||
| We'll put up sort of the holding pattern here so we could show you. | ||
| Christopher Wray is just live. | ||
| Of course, we are live. | ||
| Christopher Wray is live in Congress right now. | ||
| He's still at Congress. | ||
| And we've only gotten one question round in. | ||
| Just one. | ||
| Because they had votes. | ||
| There's three votes remaining, two minutes each. | ||
| And you can see sort of the holding pattern on screen here. | ||
| As soon as they're back, we'll go right back to the hearing. | ||
| The reason why you should watch this and why this is so fascinating is because Christopher is in charge of the entire Trump assassination plot and investigation. | ||
| And he's getting... | ||
| He's getting... | ||
| In giving us more information than we've seen in the past week, right? | ||
| It's been 10 days since the president's been shot. | ||
| And so our production team is monitoring the feed. | ||
| The moment that Jim Jordan begins speaking again, we'll pop right back up. | ||
| So that's where we are right now. | ||
| They had to break for votes. | ||
| This is supposed to be a 15-minute break or less. | ||
| And we have some badass members of the team. | ||
| That we'll be able to ask questions. | ||
| Coming up, ladies and gentlemen, just giving you the breakdown of this committee, the Judiciary Committee, again, is what we're watching. | ||
| Jim Jordan, who is not finished with his questioning, asking some really probing and very interesting questions about the drones and the explosives and the encrypted messages. | ||
| Like, who is helping this guy? | ||
| Daryl Issa, Matt Gaetz, Andy Biggs, you love all them. | ||
| Thomas Massey, Chip Roy, who's just an absolute badass. | ||
| Some pretty incredible Republicans who are up next. | ||
| Wesley Hunt, big-time friend of the show. | ||
| Troy Nels. | ||
| Ladies and gentlemen, you know all these names. | ||
| Gunslingers from the states of Florida, Texas, Arizona. | ||
| Really some fantastic questioning. | ||
| Getting ready for Christopher Wray to actually answer these questions. | ||
| Eight bullet casings. | ||
| I saw the chat explode. | ||
| Yo! | ||
| Did you know that? | ||
| The guy got off eight shots. | ||
| Now, we've been reading through the experts and looking at all this footage. | ||
| Many people saying, how many shots did he actually fire? | ||
| Now we know it's eight. | ||
| I want to go back to the Fox News breaking clip from late last night where Fox News was able to obtain exclusive footage, the cleanest and clearest we have yet, of the shooter and the shots that he fired. | ||
| And the guy was filming in crisp 4K as the shooter actually fired the shots. | ||
| This is remarkable footage, ladies and gentlemen. | ||
| You gotta see it. | ||
| And now we know that eight rounds were able to be fired by this 20-year-old eluding the most sophisticated and premier protective services on Earth. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Here we go, ladies and gentlemen. | ||
| This clip broke late last night. | ||
| It's going thermonuclear viral. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We just obtained exclusive new video of the assassination attempt 10 days ago. | |
| It is the clearest and closest video we've seen yet, taken by an eyewitness who was there with his family next to the AGR building as Thomas Crooks opened fire. | ||
| You can hear eight shots, what sounds like eight shots, followed by two counter-sniper shots, including the kill shot from the Secret Service. | ||
| Watch and listen. | ||
| Good job, man. | ||
| What the f***? | ||
| At one point, Thomas Crooks points his rifle at the eyewitness and those rally-goers. | ||
| This is what he told us about security on that day. | ||
| Definitely wasn't secure. | ||
| I'm actually ex-military. | ||
| One of the first things I noticed when we walked up, I'm like, none of us have been vetted. | ||
| We're all along the fence. | ||
|
unidentified
|
We all have view of the stage. | |
| We can see Trump. | ||
| Wait a second. | ||
| So... | ||
| These guys were just able to just wander into a Trump rally? | ||
| What the hell is going on? | ||
| Try not to yell. | ||
| What the hell is going on here? | ||
| Load that as a play beside. | ||
| These guys were able to just wander into a Trump rally? | ||
| So the president's on stage and anybody off the street, any hobo, any psychopath, could just walk up and just stare at Donald Trump and have... | ||
| Perfect shot of Donald Trump. | ||
| We are so... | ||
| Do you pray? | ||
| Are you a believer? | ||
| I certainly am. | ||
| Holy smokes. | ||
| Pray for the protection of the president. | ||
| What if that... | ||
| What if it was like an actual sophisticated state actor? | ||
| God forbid. | ||
| But what if these were trained paramilitary assassins that walked through the southern border and were able to just walk up to the fence line here? | ||
| Walk up to the fence line. | ||
| I'm going to play this clip. | ||
| I'm going to play this clip. | ||
| Side by side. | ||
| Okay, we're going to talk through this clip real fast. | ||
| Were you in the military? | ||
| Look at this. | ||
| So apparently all these people were able to just walk up, were not vetted by Secret Service, and they had full sightline of the president? | ||
| What if there were like five Iranian snipers sitting right there in the tree? | ||
| This scum was able to just point a gun? | ||
| What if he trained the gun on all the people sitting there? | ||
| He was able to just point the gun. | ||
| Look at him. | ||
| There he is with a firearm. | ||
| This is crazy. | ||
| And you're able to just sit there and watch President Trump? | ||
| There. | ||
| That's the shot I'm looking for. | ||
| Right there. | ||
| Hold on. | ||
| I'll make it even bigger. | ||
| Look at that. | ||
| Do you see the flag? | ||
| Do you see the speakers? | ||
| This is amateur videos. | ||
| So, of course, like, this is the best that we got. | ||
| But you can see the stage! | ||
|
unidentified
|
You can see the stage! | |
| So what if all of these people, God forbid, but what if all of these people were snipers for Iran? | ||
| Or state actors that are able to inflow ISIS members from across the border. | ||
| They get illegal firearms from the cartel. | ||
| What if there were a hundred snipers shooting? | ||
| This is the level of protection that the president has? | ||
| Are you? | ||
| I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. | ||
| Are you kidding? | ||
| Sorry to yell. | ||
| This is brand new footage that we're just playing on the show for the first time. | ||
| I cannot believe it. | ||
| They wanted Trump dead. | ||
| They wanted to blow his brains out on live TV. | ||
| I have this image on screen because it's a still from the new footage. | ||
| Of the assassin. | ||
| Look at these people running. | ||
| Look at these gentlemen. | ||
| Running because they see the dude on the roof. | ||
| One more time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
One more time. | |
| Listen. | ||
| You can hear the bullets. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Wow! | |
| Wow! | ||
| Oh my gosh. | ||
| Oh my gosh. | ||
| They wanted your president dead. | ||
| They wanted him dead. | ||
| I know we've done this one or two. | ||
| I know we've done this just a few times, but it's important to break this down. | ||
| All right? | ||
| So look at all the people filming. | ||
| Look at how lapsed the security was. | ||
| You could just hop the fence. | ||
| I mean, dude, you could have just gotten a butcher knife out and just hopped the fence. | ||
| God forbid. | ||
| You could have just hopped the fence. | ||
| So we just found out from Christopher Wray that he fired eight shots. | ||
| But what about... | ||
| And you can hear the eight shots being fired right now. | ||
| He's got a gun on the roof. | ||
| Dude. | ||
| Dude. | ||
| Look at this. | ||
| I'm going to play this for you. | ||
| You can hear Trump talking, okay? | ||
| And I'm going to mute the clip because I need to be able to sort of speak over it. | ||
| Look at these people. | ||
| They're filming Crooks as he's climbing. | ||
| So he climbs for another like 15 minutes to the apex of the roof there. | ||
| And sorry for the shaky, you know, it's amateur footage. | ||
| He's climbing to the top of the roof. | ||
| Please. | ||
| Stay tuned with me through the end of the clip here. | ||
| It's like another 10 seconds. | ||
| Watch this zoom in. | ||
| Look at him! | ||
| Look at this! | ||
| Clear as day! | ||
| People are screaming at him. | ||
| And what do they find? | ||
| What do we find when we actually go up on the rooftop? | ||
| What do members of Congress find when they go up on the rooftop? | ||
| I have something important to announce to you. | ||
| I'm going on the rooftop. | ||
| I'm going there. | ||
| We're going there as a team. | ||
| I said yesterday, Corey Comprintor was a follower of our channel, was a subscriber. | ||
| And we owe it to him to put as much muscle and energy and power that we have, that's been given to us, that we feel like it's a responsibility and a deep... | ||
| Responsibility that we take seriously at this show. | ||
| We must tell the truth. | ||
| And we must get the truth out here. | ||
| So we're going. | ||
| We're going. | ||
| I'll give you details on that later. | ||
| We're going and we're bringing members of Congress with us. | ||
| And I'm going up to this damn rooftop. | ||
| I'm going to go up there and we're going to bring our cameras and we're going to show you everything. | ||
| We're going to show you everything. | ||
| We're going to blow this thing wide open. | ||
| You're subscribed to the right channel here. | ||
| We're going to take the energy, the energy from the chat, the energy from you. | ||
| You want more information on this? | ||
| We read the comments. | ||
| We care about you deeply. | ||
| And we will use our... | ||
| We've been given a blessing by God to have the power to tell stories and to tell the truth and to have an audience that believes in us. | ||
| And so we're going to take that energy, we're going to take that belief, and we're going to go to Pennsylvania. | ||
| Not next week! | ||
| Not four weeks from now! | ||
| Not when the election's over! | ||
| We're going this week! | ||
| This week, and we've used our muscle to get members of Congress to go with us so that they can kick down any door, so they can rip off any hazard tape, and we are going to go there and we're going to show you. | ||
| We will go there and show you. | ||
| We love you. | ||
| We care about you. | ||
| And it is our honor, it is our honor to be subscribed to by you and to be trusted by you to tell you the truth. | ||
| And so part of that is we are going to go. | ||
| We're going to go. | ||
| We're going to Bethel, Pennsylvania. | ||
| We're going to the... | ||
| We're going this week to the grounds where the president was that close from being assassinated. | ||
| A true, literal miracle that we all witnessed. | ||
| And where Corey Compertor lost his life. | ||
| We're going to go and we're going to stand there and we're going to show you everything. | ||
| Ladies and gentlemen, a member of Congress, members of Congress are going to take us. | ||
| It's amazing. | ||
| Every person we ask to take us, we ask members of Congress who are snipers. | ||
| Okay? | ||
| So yesterday we went and we asked members of Congress who are snipers, called them on the phone. | ||
| And every one of them said instantly, yes, done, cancel my schedule, let's go. | ||
| It's amazing. | ||
| So we're going to tell you the full story. | ||
| Eli Crane was on the roof yesterday. | ||
| He's a Navy SEAL, he's a member of Congress. | ||
| And Eli Crane had this, he found this out when he was standing on the scary sloped roof. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Here on the building where the, uh, supposed to sniper took his shot. | |
| It's not that steep at all. | ||
| Just had a 70 year old man back here. | ||
| Climb up on the roof easily. | ||
| See that water tower behind me? | ||
| Secret Service or anybody had sniper teams up there. | ||
| This guy wouldn't have made it five feet up this roof. | ||
| He would have been taken out. | ||
| Behind me, you see the windows that Secret Service was supposedly in the second floor of this building behind. | ||
| Makes you wonder why they weren't able to quickly dispatch the individual. | ||
| And then behind me, back over here where those red roofs are, that's where the stage was set up. | ||
| That's where the president was giving his speech from. | ||
| A lot of questions here in Butler. | ||
| But we look forward to doing oversight and getting to the bottom of it and making sure it never happens again. | ||
| So we are going to go to Butler. | ||
| We're going to stand here. | ||
| We're going to show you everything. | ||
| What is this video? | ||
| This video is where the sniper was positioned. | ||
| Josh Hawley has whistleblower testimony that there was supposed to be an officer on the rooftop. | ||
| According to Josh Hawley's whistleblower testimony, the officer thought it was too hot. | ||
| To be on the rooftop. | ||
| So because an officer didn't want to be a little hot under the collar, that officer left the rooftop and Trump took a bullet to the head. | ||
| Because some Secret Service officer, some DEI hire, probably somebody who's not a Secret Service officer, a member of the Lady Ghostbusters, who were there to protect themselves, not Donald Trump, who were obviously there to... | ||
| We literally have the photographic evidence of them hiding behind President Trump's body. | ||
| So the Lady Ghostbusters, who can't holster their weapons... | ||
| Probably one of these members of the Homeland Security Investigative Unit, because they're not Secret Service agents. | ||
| They're not Secret Service agents. | ||
| According to Josh Hawley, and can we get the Josh Hawley tweets up? | ||
| I just want you to see, because Josh Hawley has issued letters to the DHS based on the whistleblower testimony protected in the Senate. | ||
| Josh Hawley is a great senator from the state of Missouri. | ||
| And he said, This is what whistleblowers have come to me to say. | ||
| One, that these are not agents. | ||
| This will come as no surprise to you that these are not actual Secret Service agents. | ||
| They're the Lady Ghostbusters LARPing in costume in, like, suits. | ||
| That's why they can't holster their weapons. | ||
| Josh Hawley is also, and here are the actual... | ||
| On Senate letterhead signed by Senator Hawley, whistleblower testimony, that the agents were supposed to be on the rooftop and they retreated inside because it was too hot. | ||
| Trump took a bullet in the head because it was too hot. | ||
| But then there was a sniper nest that was set up there from Secret Service. | ||
| That sniper nest view is right here. | ||
| We will go into the sniper nest this week. | ||
| We will get that footage in 4K and we will produce it for you. | ||
| We will play it for you live. | ||
| We will also produce it for you. | ||
| We will show the whole world. | ||
| This was supposed to be the view of Thomas Crooks from a sniper. | ||
| Have any of you fired a weapon before? | ||
| I bet you have. | ||
| How hard of a shot would this be? | ||
| Or for a Secret Service sniper who win every single competition? | ||
| I got a sniper in my family, okay? | ||
| Got a sniper in my family who is a sniper professionally for our military in the United States of America. | ||
| He competes against the Secret Service. | ||
| He tells me that Secret Service snipers are the best snipers, not in America, in the world. | ||
| That international sniper competitions, Secret Service snipers smoke. | ||
| Every nation, every law enforcement agency, every military branch, the Secret Service are the premier, best of the best snipers in the world. | ||
| Don't take that away from them because they literally have plaques and medals to prove it. | ||
| In these sniper competitions, why couldn't they make the shot? | ||
| Who gave the stand-down order? | ||
| Vets. | ||
| Now, those are questions. | ||
| Those are questions that Marjorie Taylor Greene asked yesterday. | ||
| Marjorie Taylor Greene, yesterday, said, is there a conspiracy to kill President Trump? | ||
| I'm sorry, on Monday. | ||
| Is there a conspiracy to kill President Trump? | ||
| ALX, I don't think that we have time for the full version there, so can we grab this as just the Trump conspiracy theory? | ||
| Marjorie Taylor Greene had an incredible seven-minute absolute reign of terror against Kim Cheadle. | ||
| Kim Cheadle resigned, and she asked the right questions. | ||
| Who gave the stand-down order? | ||
| Who said, when you have this view of Thomas Crooks, don't take the shot, don't kill him? | ||
| Who did that? | ||
| Now you can see here the building, right? | ||
| You can see here the building and the building itself. | ||
| And you can see in this footage right here, the exact same spot, right? | ||
| So there it is. | ||
| Spatially, this is from the ground. | ||
| The exact same spot. | ||
| You can see Tom's crooks right there. | ||
| Look at how easy of a shot that would be. | ||
| This isn't even hard. | ||
| Guys, this isn't even hard. | ||
| Like little children at firearm ranges. | ||
| That, you know, are obviously there with their parents, right? | ||
| And their parents are practicing their Second Amendment rights and teaching their children to defend themselves. | ||
| Like, little children can take these shots. | ||
| This is the easiest shot. | ||
| You see Crooks right there on the roof. | ||
| He's the gray blob. | ||
| But look at him climbing right there. | ||
| You just saw from the sniper angle. | ||
| Now look at him. | ||
| How hard would the shot have been? | ||
| This was the sniper nest. | ||
| Look at the people pointing. | ||
| Saying, there's the shooter! | ||
| How was this guy acting alone? | ||
| I'm sorry, I don't buy it. | ||
| This guy wasn't acting alone. | ||
| Something else was up here. | ||
| I hope that we get to that with Christopher Wray's testimony today. | ||
| Something else was up here. | ||
| The first questioner, Dan Bishop from North Carolina, asked, like, are you sure this guy was acting alone? | ||
| Like, are you sure this guy's not a passy? | ||
| And there wasn't a second gunman? | ||
| What's going on here? | ||
| The bullet casings. | ||
| He says there were eight shots fired. | ||
| I suppose that is consistent with quite a bit of footage. | ||
| I hope they have photos and videos to back it up. | ||
| We're starting to get secret service video, body cam footage. | ||
| Listen, man, if this was an actual botched operation, we're going to be able to find out. | ||
| We will find out. | ||
| This ain't no Zapruder film anymore. | ||
| It's not 1964. | ||
| It's not JFK. | ||
| It's different now. | ||
| We have this clear 4K footage. | ||
| And by the way, we are going to go get our own 4K footage. | ||
| We're going to climb on that roof. | ||
| We're going to show you exactly what Thomas Crook saw. | ||
| We're going to show you what the snipers saw. | ||
| We're going to go up to the other rooftops. | ||
| We're going to show you everything. | ||
| We're going to show you how simple it would have been to take this guy out and how they allowed it to happen. | ||
| And then they staffed Donald Trump to ensure maximum damage. | ||
| They staffed Donald Trump with incompetence. | ||
| And morons. | ||
| And people that, according to Josh Hawley, have no clue what Secret Service procedure is in moments like this. | ||
| Have no clue. | ||
| I'm not saying this of all agents. | ||
| I'm just saying this of the obvious incompetence that's caught on camera. | ||
| Give me that photo of the Melissa McCarthy agent ducking behind Trump. | ||
| I don't say things I can't prove, alright? | ||
| Or I don't speculate on things. | ||
| Speculation is very important. | ||
| You must be able to ask questions, and that's what we're doing here. | ||
| We're simply asking questions. | ||
| I don't speculate on things that I can't provide evidence for. | ||
| All right? | ||
| There's a photo of the agent who can't holster her gun, literally hiding behind Trump, crouching down during a live fire situation, and hiding, using Donald Trump's body as her human shield. | ||
| I've seen it. | ||
| Maybe you've seen it. | ||
| I'm happy to show it to you when my boys get it up. | ||
| Ladies and gentlemen, we got real problems here. | ||
| So I hope and deeply pray that Republicans ask tough questions when we get back into the curing of Christopher Wray. | ||
| Do you see it? | ||
| Click on the photo. | ||
| Zoom on the Lady Ghostbusters. | ||
|
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Yeah. | |
| You in law enforcement? | ||
| You ever been in the military? | ||
| What does this position tell you? | ||
| This individual was hiding from where she thought the fire was coming from. | ||
| Of course, she was wrong, obviously. | ||
| She didn't know how to holster her own weapon. | ||
| Pile there is President Trump. | ||
| Please zoom out. | ||
| A pile there is President Trump. | ||
| She's using Trump's body to hide herself from where she thinks the bullets are coming from. | ||
| You can see, of course, the iconic chart that President Trump was using behind her. | ||
| Can you zoom in on the Secret Service agents? | ||
| I am a big back-of-the-blue kind of guy, okay? | ||
| You will never find any BLM stuff. | ||
| You'll never find any defund the police garbage in my timeline. | ||
| Ever. | ||
| You know that. | ||
| So I'm not here to try and, like, criticize law enforcement. | ||
| Look at these guys doing their jobs. | ||
| See, I think even Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, and Helen Keller could spot the difference between real Secret Service agents. | ||
| And the people LARPing as Secret Service agents that happen to just be surrounding Donald Trump that day. | ||
| What if, asking a very dangerous question here, what if they only staffed Donald Trump? | ||
| What if they took all real Secret Service agents and they only staffed them with Lady Ghostbusters? | ||
| What if that was the case? | ||
| What would have happened? | ||
| Well, President Trump would have been laying flat on the ground with a bunch of people going like this. | ||
|
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Is it safe? | |
| Bye. | ||
| Behind him. | ||
| That's what would have happened. | ||
| President Trump, the guy fired eight shots. | ||
| President Trump's a pretty big target. | ||
| President Trump's like six foot three. | ||
| I mean, you ever met the dude? | ||
| Command's a room, right? | ||
| Command's a stage. | ||
| He's a big dude. | ||
| He's like six three, maybe. | ||
| With the hair, he's six five. | ||
| Still looks really teeny next to Barron Trump, but, you know, who wouldn't be? | ||
| So Donald Trump laying flat on the ground is hell of a target. | ||
| If the guy's going to get eight shots off, and it sounds like the guy could have gotten a lot more shots off, maybe his gun jammed or something like that, maybe he only had eight rounds. | ||
| But the guy's like, so what if all the agents were doing this? | ||
| What if all the agents were cowering behind Trump's body? | ||
| Was that the goal? | ||
| Apparently it was. | ||
| Because we have whistleblower testimony from Josh Hawley that they staffed President Trump with not secret service agents. | ||
| Department of Homeland Security. | ||
| Can we click on the first page here? | ||
| The Department of Homeland Security. | ||
| It's the third paragraph down. | ||
| Department of Homeland Security. | ||
| In addition, whistleblower allegations suggest the majority of DHS officials were in fact not Secret Service agents, but instead were drawn from the Department of Homeland Security investigations. | ||
| If that sounds like people whose most dangerous job during the day is retrieving the Cheetos bag from the vending machine and getting Cheeto dust on their sticky little government laptops, yeah. | ||
| That's what Department of Homeland Security Investigations Unit is. | ||
| A bunch of grotesque paper pusher bureaucrats. | ||
| Parasitic barnacles inside of the obesity of our federal glut government. | ||
| These people were assigned to protect President Trump that day. | ||
| In an open field that literally anybody could have ran into the event. | ||
| As we have shown you. | ||
| So that's who those people were. | ||
| What if that's the only people? | ||
| What if there weren't, like, real Secret Service agents there? | ||
| And Thomas Crooks was able to get an entire 30 rounds off. | ||
| And President Trump was just, like, President Trump did what he was supposed to do. | ||
| He laid flat on the ground. | ||
| Presumably, there's defensive, you know, most of the time those stages are bulletproof. | ||
| Iron, I think they always are. | ||
| The stages themselves act as a bulletproof guard against Trump. | ||
| I personally believe that they should put bulletproof glass around Trump forever now. | ||
| At every event. | ||
| That's what I believe. | ||
| If it was good enough for Obama, it's good enough for our guy. | ||
| Obama spoke with bulletproof glass around him every speech. | ||
| They should do that for President Trump. | ||
|
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Period. | |
| So this guy was able to get off eight rounds. | ||
| Donald Trump lays flat. | ||
| What if their plan had... | ||
| What if these individuals had... | ||
| What if he was only staffed? | ||
| With these individuals. | ||
| And they were all hiding behind Trump's body. | ||
| As is proven here in this photograph. | ||
| Would we have a different result? | ||
| Yeah, we totally would have had a different result. | ||
| God help us. | ||
| Marjorie Taylor Greene, ladies and gentlemen, asking the right questions on the date. | ||
| On the date, which was Monday. | ||
| Here we go. | ||
| People under your command did not consider him to be a threat, yet people in the crowd knew he had a gun and considered him to be a threat. | ||
| That means that you are a complete failure as the director of the Secret Service, that people under your command don't perceive a man laying on a roof with direct line to the president with a gun. | ||
| They don't perceive that to be a threat, yet the people in the crowd do. | ||
| How is that possible? | ||
|
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That's the last question, but please answer the question, Ms. Director. | |
| I'm not certain at this time how the information from the people in the crowd was relayed to any law enforcement personnel. | ||
| Now, you knew, everyone knew. | ||
| The people there knew that there was a danger. | ||
| They knew there was a threat to President Trump, and it was allowed to happen. | ||
| Was there a stand-down order, Ms. Cheadle? | ||
| Was there a conspiracy to kill President Trump? | ||
|
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Absolutely not. | |
| Then how did this happen? | ||
| And why are you still sitting here not turning in your letter of resignation? | ||
|
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Last question. | |
| Please answer, and then I'll recognize Ms. Presley. | ||
| Please answer the question. | ||
| That is what we are investigating to determine. | ||
| We're waiting for your letter. | ||
| We are waiting for your letter of resignation. | ||
| And you really need to consider doing that before you leave today. | ||
| Skepticism cannot be wrong. | ||
| It is our sovereign right to ask questions. | ||
| We must ask questions, especially of government bureaucrats who have failed us. | ||
| It is why we are proud to bring you Christopher Wray's testimony on Capitol Hill right now. | ||
| We are back, ladies and gentlemen. | ||
| A Democrat member of Congress is mewling right now, most likely about threats to Nancy Pelosi. | ||
| And Christopher Wray is back. | ||
| Let's go. | ||
| In this instance in particular, we have a lot of legal process out. | ||
| For additional accounts and things like that that the shooter is associated with. | ||
| So we're hoping to learn more and we're still exploiting a number of the digital devices. | ||
| I think it's fair to say that we do not yet have a clear picture of his motive. | ||
| And I think it's important for me to explain because I understand, of course, why everybody wants to know the answers to those questions. | ||
| Often in an investigation... | ||
| From interviewing people that the subject was in close contact with, looking at the individual's social media accounts, messages, often things, physical evidence in the person's residence. | ||
| You might see a manifesto, things like that. | ||
| We're not seeing that yet, but we are digging in hard because this is one of the central questions for us. | ||
| What I can say is that the shooter appears to have We've done a lot of searches of public figures in general, but so far we're seeing kind of news articles and things like that. | ||
| And so the images that have been reported about, really what we're talking about there, are when you do a news search of an article, the image appears in the cache as opposed to like a search for that specific individual. | ||
| But again, I really want to be clear that that's a place that we're doing a lot of work right now and some more to come on that. | ||
|
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Well, I thank you for that clarification. | |
| We're interested also in the role of access to weapons when it comes to this terrible crime. | ||
| The shooter used a semi-automatic rifle, really a weapon of war, that sadly has also been used in mass shootings around the country, including in my own district. | ||
| It seems to me that the assault weapons ban that was once in place has to be a part of the national answer to curbing the epidemic of gun violence in America. | ||
| I wonder if you could, with your help, Director Wray, understand a few aspects of the investigation. | ||
| It's my understanding that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, ATF, was quickly able to trace the gun. | ||
| The gun's purchaser, using records from an out-of-business gun store, records that the government is required to correct. | ||
| Some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have suggested that collection should stop. | ||
| There have been efforts to digitize it which have been resisted. | ||
| Can you tell us about how the origin of this gun purchase was discovered and the technology used? | ||
| Well, I guess what I can say is we located a number of firearms associated with the shooter and his family. | ||
| I think it was a total of, I think, 14 in the house. | ||
| The weapon that he used for the attempted assassination was an AR-style rifle that was purchased legally. | ||
| As my understanding, acquired, I think bought actually from his father, who was the one who originally bought it, again, legally. | ||
|
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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | |
| My time has expired, so I yield back. | ||
| Gentle lady yields back. | ||
| Gentleman from California is recognized. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Director, I'll try to ask questions that are answerable too. | ||
| I think that's been done pretty well on both sides. | ||
| You do the advanced threat assessment and deliver that information. | ||
| As to the general threat and then specifics as to protected people to the Secret Service. | ||
| Is that correct? | ||
| Well, sort of. | ||
| The Secret Service does a threat assessment, but they're doing that based on intelligence that they receive from a number of sources, including, of course, the FBI. | ||
| So we share, whenever we have threat information related to a particular individual or protectee, and we share it with the Secret Service at a number of levels. | ||
| So you're a participant, but ultimately the responsibility for threat assessment as to these individuals belongs to the Secret Service? | ||
| Well, again, the threat assessment for the individual belongs to the Secret Service, but we are an important part of that because we share threat information. | ||
| If we have any, they get threat information from a variety of sources. | ||
| And you get them from that same variety of sources. | ||
| They've got no sources that are excluded from the FBI, do they? | ||
| I don't know. | ||
| I'm not aware of any that are excluded from the FBI, but they may receive information that comes directly to them that didn't come to us. | ||
| Sure. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Director, do you believe that former President Trump was a high-risk threat under your assessment? | ||
| I believe that former President Trump, really, frankly, like any president or former president, is a very high-profile figure and attracts... | ||
| It's fair to say, not on a scale of one to a million with little nuances, but on a scale of one to ten, President Trump's risk was very similar to a current president, very similar because he was the presumptive nominee and leading in the polls and so on, that he was a high risk by any standard. | ||
| Is that correct? | ||
| Certainly, there's a reason why he has so much protection around him. | ||
| Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the son of an assassinated senator and the nephew of an assassinated president, would you say he was also, as a presidential candidate, at significant risk? | ||
| Again, I think any presidential candidate raises some level of risk. | ||
| It might vary from candidate. | ||
| No, but it's clearly a risk. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| So, in a nutshell, the day before this attack, President Trump was documented not to have gotten on multiple occasions from the Secret Service what they asked for. | ||
| The day after, it looks like they're getting more. | ||
| The day before, RFK had been denied by the president multiple times, Secret Service protection. | ||
| The day after, he now has it. | ||
| So now my question is, is the actions of a 20-year-old with a lone gunman on a roof Sufficient to change the risk assessment in your mind for President Trump and RFK? | ||
| Or are we just realizing the threat that was always there and being more appropriate in matching it? | ||
| And I know that's a little vague, but you've been at this for a long time. | ||
| Hindsight is 20-20. | ||
| Now that we have hindsight, is it fair to say that giving Robert F. Kennedy Jr. security... | ||
| Upping the security, including drones, overhead support for the president, former president. | ||
| These are all things that, in hindsight, should have been done the day before. | ||
| Well, let me try to answer your question this way. | ||
| Of course, as I said, you know, the assessments of the level of security to be provided to individual protectors... | ||
| No, I understand it's a Secret Service decision. | ||
| Well, what I would say to you is that, and I've been saying for quite some time, including in front of committees of this Congress, that we are in an elevated threat environment, and we have been for some time. | ||
| And that comes from a variety of quarters. | ||
| It is, quite frankly, a dangerous time to be a prominent public event. | ||
| In regards to that, the other side has spent a lot of time talking about what people on the right have said. | ||
| But there was an attempted assassination on a Supreme Court justice. | ||
| We have had the highest ranking senator We have had multiple members of Congress in both the House and the Senate berating the character of members of the Supreme Court as a result of their decisions made, sometimes 6-3, sometimes unanimous, whatever. | ||
| Are those comments Not any one of them, but are those comments and the generation of that sort of, oh, this guy's bad for democracy, this Supreme Court justice is a threat to democracy, is that the kind of thing that raises the threat level, and would you caution against that? | ||
| Well, I do believe that we've seen an increase in threats of violence, which again, that's the FBI's lane, not rhetoric, no matter how despicable or heated it is. | ||
| But violence and threats of violence. | ||
| We have seen an uptick in threats towards judges, among other prominent public officials, including, as you say, a case that we helped investigate involving a threat to a sitting Supreme Court justice. | ||
| An attempt. | ||
| An attempt. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Right. | ||
| And I think it's a reflection of a broader phenomenon that we are seeing in this country where people, again, very passionate. | ||
| I respect that. | ||
| Very angry. | ||
| I respect that. | ||
| But there's a right way and a wrong way to express yourself when you're angry. | ||
| And violence and threats of violence just can't be it. | ||
| And that's where we fit in. | ||
| It's not my role as FBI Director to call out particular people's rhetoric. | ||
| There's a place for that. | ||
| But that's not my role as FBI Director. | ||
| But when it turns to violence and threats of violence... | ||
| That has to be treated as unacceptable, and that's the way we look at it. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman, to yield back. | ||
| Director, when did the FBI learn that Iran was threatening President Trump's life? | ||
| Good question. | ||
| So I want to be a little bit careful here, not to talk about specific classified information, but we have been for quite some time, and I'll stick with what's in the open record, we for some time, and I in particular for some time, | ||
| have been calling out The efforts by the Iranian government to attempt to retaliate for the killing of Soleimani by going after current or former prominent U.S. officials. | ||
| And we've even had an indictment against it. | ||
| And I think that we need to recognize the brazenness of the Iranian regime, including right here in the United States. | ||
| And I expect that we're going to see more of it, and I expect there'll be more coming on that. | ||
| I'm not aware of any threat information related to protectees that wasn't, you know, passed in a timely way, but I can't really get into specifics here. | ||
| It's a minority's time here, but I just felt that was a question the committee needed to understand, and it sounds like you've known that for a long time, and that information was conveyed to the Secret Service. | ||
| Any information related to threats against the former president, which again, as we've sort of talked about, happens all too often, is something that we have a whole process that we routinely share with the Secret Service on a number of levels in a timely way. | ||
| And to my knowledge, that has consistently been followed. | ||
| The gentleman from Georgia is recognized. | ||
|
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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | |
| Thank you for being here, Director Ray. | ||
| Mr. Guam. | ||
| Mr. Guam's going to tip over. | ||
|
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The FBI is the independent law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice. | |
| Is that correct? | ||
| Yes. | ||
|
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And does the FBI director currently report to anyone? | |
| Well, you mean in a chain of command reporting structure kind of thing? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| The FBI is part of the Justice Department. | ||
| On the org chart, you would see that the FBI director, and this has been true for decades, reports to the Deputy Attorney General who reports to the Attorney General. | ||
| Obviously, reports in a communication sense, I report to any number of people. | ||
|
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As opposed to a micromanagement reporting system. | |
| Correct. | ||
|
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What the hell are you talking about? | |
| Would take issue, would you not, with any proposal that would change or alter that chain of command and place you or place a FBI director in the position of reporting directly to the president? | ||
| Would you not? | ||
| You would oppose that? | ||
| I don't think that would be a wise reporting structure. | ||
| I think the structure that we've had for decades now makes sense. | ||
| I think there's a difference between independence in a sort of organizational structure perspective and independence in terms of the way you do the work. | ||
|
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Obviously, the FBI is part of the Justice Department. | |
| Well, reporting directly to the president would eliminate your independence, would it not? | ||
| I don't think it would help. | ||
|
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And you're familiar with Project 2025, are you not? | |
| I mean, I've seen... | ||
| You know, news reports about it. | ||
| I'm not particularly familiar with it. | ||
|
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You're aware that it is a game plan for President Trump's first 120 days in office, correct? | |
| I'm really not familiar with the details. | ||
| I've seen reporting about it. | ||
|
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It is. | |
| And what he proposes to do is to... | ||
| Force the FBI director to report directly to him. | ||
| That's what he wants to do within the first 120 days. | ||
| He also wants to eliminate the position of FBI general counsel. | ||
| That is also set forth in Project 2025. | ||
| How would you recommend that? | ||
| I think the FBI's Office of General Counsel serves an incredibly important role, including... | ||
| In terms of advising our workforce, we have 38,000 people. | ||
| The idea of having an organization like ours, an independent law enforcement agency like ours, that doesn't have its own general counsel's office doesn't make sense to me. | ||
|
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Well, it would seem like any proposal that would force the director to report to the president. | |
| Oh, my God. | ||
| and there would be no legal counsel for the director of the FBI. | ||
| That seems like it's an attempt to neuter This is how the guy's going to spend his five minutes. | ||
| Trump was shot in the face and he's going to talk about org charts and hoaxes. | ||
| Let me put it this way. | ||
| I recognize that the FBI director, this FBI director and every FBI director before me, serves at the pleasure of the president. | ||
| And that's part of our system. | ||
| I was appointed by President Trump. | ||
| I respect that. | ||
| I think that's a part of our structure. | ||
| But independence in terms of how we do our work is what matters to me. | ||
| And we need to be able to do our work in a way that is free from political interference. | ||
|
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Well, you wouldn't be able to do that by reporting everything you do to the president and getting his authority and approval before you take action, correct? | |
| I don't think that would be a wise approach. | ||
|
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And then there's even a proposal to replace many of those 38,000 dedicated civil servants who work for the FBI, replace them with a MAGA group that has pledged its allegiance to Donald Trump. | |
| What? | ||
| What danger would that bring to the FBI if that were to happen? | ||
| Well, again, I haven't read or reviewed this thing that you're referring to, but the FBI is made up of 38,000 dedicated career law enforcement professionals. | ||
| It has no political appointees of any kind unless you count me as a nominee of the former president. | ||
| I don't think that should change. | ||
|
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I think that is part of how we do our work. | |
| Being the employees of the FBI. | ||
| We're coming up on 116 years of the FBI, and that's the way it has been for 116 years. | ||
|
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It would be crazy to take 38,000 MAGA loyalists and put them at the FBI. | |
| That's frightening. | ||
| That's what Project 2025 proposes, and I'm glad to know that you are... | ||
| Is that dumber than I thought? | ||
| This guy's... | ||
| This is the guy that thought Guam would tip over if you put too many troops on it. | ||
| Was the shooter on the FBI's radar? | ||
| Here we go. | ||
| Matt Gaetz. | ||
| Here we go. | ||
| Assassination attempt. | ||
| We did not have any information about the shooter. | ||
| He was not in our holdings before the shooting. | ||
| No communication in any chat rooms. | ||
| No CIs or... | ||
| Do confidential human sources have any interaction? | ||
| No, we've run a thorough search for the subject through all of our holdings, and he was not in them anywhere. | ||
| Were there any FBI agents or informants present at the Trump rally in Butler? | ||
| Not to my knowledge. | ||
| Mr. Jordan was talking to you about Iran. | ||
| Were law enforcement resources diverted from the protection of President Trump to John Bolton? | ||
| As a consequence of concern that Mr. Bolton might have been the target of Iranian malign efforts? | ||
| That's really a Secret Service decision. | ||
| I don't know the answer to that. | ||
| That's really something they would know better. | ||
| What I can tell you is that there are a number of individuals. | ||
| You mentioned one who brought a case. | ||
| A specific criminal case for the Iranians targeting for assassination. | ||
| Are you going to get that answer to us, whether or not resources were diverted from Trump to Bolton? | ||
| Is that just going to be part of your review? | ||
| I think that's going to be part of the reviews by the inspector general. | ||
| The inspector general for VHS, right? | ||
|
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Of DHS and the outside panel. | |
| I think that's an important point because the inspector general for DHS has really fallen out of favor with the administration because he's been pointing out all the problems on the border with Mayorkas and Biden. | ||
| And we're always kind of worried that they're about to fire him, which would be a really bad idea now that this role that you've identified is so critical. | ||
| It would be a bad idea to fire the IG for DHS during the pendency of this, right, Mr. Director? | ||
| I don't think that would be a good idea. | ||
| I'm with you on that. | ||
| So I want to zoom out a little bit. | ||
| How often do you brief President Biden? | ||
| You mean on this specific case? | ||
| No, in your role as FBI director. | ||
| I mean, I don't know that I could give you a number. | ||
| Is it like weekly, monthly, daily? | ||
| It's not at a regular cadence. | ||
| There have been times when there have been months at a time when I haven't, and then there have been times when several days apart I have. | ||
| It's always with other people. | ||
| The vice president, is she typically there? | ||
| Often has been. | ||
| Okay, so when did you notice his decline? | ||
| In my interactions, in my role, all my interactions with the current president have been completely professional. | ||
| Right, but I mean the cognitive decline. | ||
| I'm not saying he treated you unprofessionally, just maybe not picking things up as quickly as he used to. | ||
| Again, I... | ||
| I don't meet with him very often, but what you're describing is not something that I've observed during my interactions. | ||
| I mean, we've had it observed so often that the ranking member and Mr. Schiff on this committee have said that he could no longer continue as a candidate. | ||
| And so, since you're the FBI director, I was just sort of wondering, like, who's running the country? | ||
| If something bad happened, you'd have to go... | ||
| Brief President Biden about it right now? | ||
| God forbid. | ||
| And on any number of occasions, I have briefed the president. | ||
| And as I said, those briefings have all been uneventful and unremarkable. | ||
| Well, I can imagine them being uneventful. | ||
| But in the work where the vice president's also present, like you say there's like more than half the time there's these briefings, she's there too? | ||
| I don't know if I'd said more than half the time. | ||
| Certainly there have been times where she's been president. | ||
| There have been other times where she hasn't. | ||
| I take you at your word when you say this is the most complicated threat environment you've ever observed over a long career in law enforcement. | ||
| And I'm just kind of wondering, with this assassination attempt, with the invasion at our border, with all the Hamas that have been let in, that you've talked about and briefed about, is Biden up to it? | ||
| And if he's not up to it, and you're a guy who's been regularly briefing him, who's been in on this conspiracy? | ||
| To hide the real Joe Biden from all of us for years. | ||
| It never occurred to you that this guy wasn't up to it in all these briefings you did? | ||
| As I said, my briefings with the president have all been completely fine. | ||
| Were they between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.? | ||
| There hasn't been anything of note in the area that you're talking about. | ||
| Did you ever have to brief him before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m.? | ||
| We hear those are his good hours. | ||
| I can't, I certainly, times that I have briefed have included outside those hours. | ||
| Right. | ||
| I just, you know, I think the American people want to know how we got to this point. | ||
|
unidentified
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Wow. | |
| Someone who's very, so diminished his own party has basically put him out to pasture. | ||
| And since you had close proximity and the vice president had close proximity, I'm just kind of wondering if you were being straight with all of us about how things were going with him. | ||
| I guess we'll have to figure that out. | ||
| You can counter me to be straight with you, sir. | ||
| We'll see. | ||
| Gentleman yields back. | ||
| Gentleman from Tennessee is recognized. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Christopher Ray is straight. | ||
| The fact that our colleague and my colleagues side-by-side made for many, many years in this committee, Sheila Jackson Lee is no longer with us. | ||
| She was a great member. | ||
| Oh, gosh. | ||
| For America. | ||
| Her loss is spelled. | ||
|
unidentified
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Great. | |
| Secondly, I'd like to say to the FBI director that there were some remarks made when you were introduced, preemptory remarks, saying that people don't have... | ||
| Great faith in the FBI, etc., etc., etc. | ||
| I have great faith in the FBI, and I think most of us on this side of the aisle do. | ||
| We appreciate your work and appreciate your being here. | ||
| Some on the other side of the aisle have cast dispersions upon the FBI and upon law enforcement. | ||
| If they don't want to support law enforcement, that's their business. | ||
| But I support law enforcement, and the FBI is the top rank of law enforcement in our country. | ||
| So I thank you and all of your people that work with you. | ||
| You got on your knees for BLM, scum. | ||
| Yeah, maybe being weaponized. | ||
| Did President Biden ever ask you to get involved in the case in Orlando, Florida, where Kevin McCarthy says that Mr. Gates was investigated for some sexual involvement with a 17-year-old girl? | ||
| Did the president or anybody in the Democratic Party, as Mr. McCarthy has suggested, weaponized you and tried to get you involved in that case? | ||
| No, sir. | ||
| Good. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I just wanted to make sure of that. | ||
| I read something about a ladder. | ||
| He used a ladder to get up on that roof and that the ladder was found somewhere a distance away. | ||
| Is that true? | ||
| So we do know that he purchased a ladder. | ||
| I think if I recall correctly, it was about a five foot tall type of ladder. | ||
| But importantly, we did not find the ladder at the scene. | ||
| So it's not clear. | ||
| That he used the ladder to get on top of the roof. | ||
| So you don't think the ladder... | ||
| We're still digging into all that, things related to the ladder and his access to the roof. | ||
| But he did buy a ladder, but the ladder was not found at the scene. | ||
| The ladder didn't have any feet on it. | ||
| It didn't walk off. | ||
| Thank you, sir. | ||
| There have been a lot of threats against... | ||
| What a piece of garbage. | ||
| You've seen Mr. Scalise terribly shot, and we saw Gabby Gifford shot, and other congresspeople, and many of us have had death threats. | ||
| The FBI has been made aware of those to help protect us, and I appreciate that greatly. | ||
| But we've also had election officials and poll workers threaten. | ||
| What is the FBI doing in consultation with other law enforcement to ensure every eligible voter can safely and confidently cast a ballot this year? | ||
| So when it comes to threats to election workers in particular, you know, we participate in the Election Threats Task Force that DOJ set up. | ||
| We also, and there have been a number, quite a number already, of arrests and convictions under that task force. | ||
| We have got a number of investigations underway that involve all kinds of threats to election workers, ranging from online threats to, there was even some mailings that included fentanyl. | ||
| So there's been a number of types of threats to election workers. | ||
| And these are, after all, people who Are putting in their own time for the good of the country to try to help us have a functioning democracy. | ||
| And so the idea that they would be targeted with violence is just outrageous. | ||
| We are sharing information with election officials about things to be on the lookout for. | ||
| We have election crime coordinators in all 50... | ||
| You'll be prepared for election day with additional... | ||
| FBI will be looking out for... | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Thank you, thank you. | ||
| Jeffrey Epstein. | ||
| Been in the news a lot lately about involvement with certain people high in politics involved. | ||
| Did the FBI conduct a raid on his townhouse in New York when he was incarcerated in New York? | ||
| There was a raid on his east side townhouse. | ||
| Well, I don't know about a raid. | ||
| I know we executed a number of searches in the course of our fairly extensive investigation related to Mr. Epstein. | ||
| Can you tell me during that search if you came across and have within your possession of the FBI Tapes of him with other individuals that he might have taken in, people in compromising positions. | ||
| Yeah, I don't know that there's anything I can share related to that. | ||
| I can see if there's information we could provide and maybe get back to you on it. | ||
| If there were tapes of people in prominent positions, friends of his he'd post for pictures with, possibly in compromising positions, the public, I think, has the right to see those. | ||
| Well, I mean, how we... | ||
| Handle evidence recovered in a criminal investigation has all kinds of rules that apply to it. | ||
| I recognize the intense public interest in the subject, but we have to follow our rules, but I'm happy, like I said, I'm happy to follow up with my team on it. | ||
| Thank you, sir, and I appreciate your service, and thank you for being here today. | ||
| Gentleman, yield the last five? | ||
| Chair, now recognize the gentleman from Arizona. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Director Wray, for being here. | ||
|
unidentified
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All right, Biggs, let's go, baby. | |
| Well, we know that he fired at least eight because we recovered eight cartridges on the roof. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| And are all the cartridges and the unspent bullets, have they been, you know how many there are, accounted for all of those? | ||
| I assume, yeah. | ||
| We believe we have. | ||
| Again, there's lots of work still ongoing, but yes, we believe we have accounted. | ||
| And did the recovered shells, the cartridges, match the shooter's rifle? | ||
| My recollection is yes. | ||
| And you've conducted an analysis that confirms that? | ||
| Well, we work with ATF, but yes, some of the work has been divided up. | ||
| And how many shells casings were recovered from the location of the countersnipers? | ||
| I'm sorry, I couldn't hear the last part. | ||
| From the countersnipers location? | ||
| That I don't have the answer, at least here at my fingertips. | ||
|
unidentified
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Okay. | |
| - Did the blood and tissue pattern of the shooter, did it match the stories or the witness testimony that you've heard so far? | ||
| - I'm not sure I'm following the question. | ||
| - Well, I assume you've interviewed the counter snipers. | ||
| You have that evidence and other witnesses describing the kill of the shooter. | ||
| And I'm wondering if the The blood and tissue and brain matter is consistent with the testimony that you're receiving. | ||
| In other words, is the physical... | ||
| In terms of the manner of death? | ||
| Exactly. | ||
| Is the physical evidence consistent with where the shot... | ||
| Yeah, so the autopsy is being handled by, as is not unusual, the state authorities. | ||
| My understanding is... | ||
| Thus far, I don't think it's fully complete, which is not, again, not totally unusual. | ||
| But so far, nothing remarkable on that front. | ||
| That's from the body itself, but from actually the scene where the shooter was found, is everything consistent with the testimony, the physical evidence at the scene? | ||
|
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Is that consistent with the testimony you've seen that you've heard so far? | |
| So far, yes. | ||
| Again, ongoing investigation. | ||
| Were you able to determine whether the shooter took the gun up with him when he climbed up to the top of the roof, or was it already placed there somewhere? | ||
| So that is something that we're drilling into right now that we don't know the answer to yet. | ||
| I can tell you, which may be relevant, though, to your question, that, and I don't think this has been reported yet, that the weapon had a collapsible stock, which could explain... | ||
| Why it might have been less easy for people to observe, you know, because one of the things that we're finding is people have observed him. | ||
| The first people to observe him with the weapon were when he was already on the roof, and we haven't yet found anybody with firsthand observation of him with the weapon walking around beforehand. | ||
| So that doesn't mean he wasn't, obviously, but the collapsible stock is potentially a very significant feature that might be relevant to that. | ||
| Like in a backpack? | ||
| I believe so, but I just, as I sit here right now, I don't remember. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| You mentioned about two hours before the incident that he'd had a drone and he was using a drone. | ||
| You don't remember if he has a scope? | ||
| Instead of me putting words in your mouth, just tell me how you discovered the drone, how you discovered the time. | ||
| And how you discovered, if you can describe what he would have been observing with the drone and how you determined that. | ||
| So this is something that's very much ongoing right now. | ||
| We're going back and forth with our lab as they continue to do work on it. | ||
| What I would say is the drone was in his car. | ||
| As I said, we've been able to, by exploiting the drone, determine its use and flight paths. | ||
| There were no... | ||
| Pictures or videos on the drone of the day of the rally, for example, but we have been able to reverse engineer the flight path of the drone from the day of the rally, and that's how we know that for about 11 minutes from, I think it's around 3:50 p.m. to 4 p.m., somewhere in that range, he was flying the drone, and we have the flight path. | ||
| It's about 200 yards away from where former President Trump Would ultimately be speaking. | ||
| And so that would have primarily given him a vantage point. | ||
| I don't think how to describe this. | ||
| If the former president's podium is that way, the drone would be over here looking, you know, say 200 yards again off this way, looking back. | ||
| So it would have shown the shooter, we think, again, we're still doing more work on this. | ||
| I really want to qualify what I'm saying. | ||
| I'm trying to be transparent and lean in here. | ||
| We think it would have shown him kind of what would have been behind him. | ||
| When you say behind him, behind the shooter. | ||
|
unidentified
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Correct. | |
| In other words, almost like giving him a rearview mirror of the scene behind him. | ||
| Except, again, he wasn't flying it overhead while he was later back for the assassination. | ||
| But he would have had, with the drone, he would have been able to also assess. | ||
| Kind of, because the stage, I assume, was already set. | ||
| He'd been able to assess that angle with the rooftop as well, forward and backward, I assume. | ||
| Well, certainly going towards the podium. | ||
| Again, we're still trying to figure out exactly what he saw, because we're having to, in effect, because there's no recording of what he saw during those 11 minutes, you know, our hypothesis at this point, the experts think he would have been live streaming it. | ||
| And so we're trying to, in effect, say, okay, well, this was the flight pattern. | ||
| Given these capabilities of the drone, what would you have seen? | ||
| What could you have seen for those 11 minutes? | ||
| And again, it wasn't over the stage or the kind of the hub of the rally, about 200 yards away, but it looks like it would have been looking, let's say, you know, a length of a football field or so more, you know, kind of towards the podium. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Great. | |
| Thank you, Mr. John. | ||
| How many separate times was the shooter on the premises? | ||
| So again, with the caveat that we're continuing to do work on it, we believe that the first time he traveled to the grounds was, I think, a week before. | ||
| And he spent roughly 20 minutes there. | ||
| Then he went to the grounds again on the morning of the event, it appears, for about 70 minutes, I think. | ||
| But again, I... | ||
| I'd have to go back and look to be sure of that part. | ||
| And then if he came back in the afternoon, so that would be, I guess, a third time for good. | ||
| But that included things like this drone activity we just talked about. | ||
| The gentleman from California is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Director, thank you for appearing. | ||
| Thank you for the extraordinary job that you're doing. | ||
| Please convey our thanks to the men and women at the Bureau for their incredible work. | ||
| I've worked with them since I was an assistant U.S. attorney more than 30 years ago. | ||
| Let me start with a threshold question I'm curious about. | ||
| When I applied to be an assistant U.S. attorney, I had to go through a background check. | ||
| Do candidates for the FBI have to go through background checks? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Would someone with dozens of felony convictions survive a background check for the Bureau? | ||
| No. | ||
| So they would never be hired by the Bureau? | ||
| No. | ||
| Well, clearly the Bureau has, you don't have to comment on this, I know you won't, but clearly the Bureau has higher standards for their hiring than one of America's great political parties. | ||
| Let me turn to the events of the... | ||
|
unidentified
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Oh, what a piece of garbage! | |
| Oh, this scumbag! | ||
| ...to the shooters. | ||
| Trump just got shot in the head. | ||
|
unidentified
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And he starts by criticizing Donald Trump. | |
| He starts with a pot shot at Donald Trump. | ||
| What a... | ||
| Oh, it's just despicable. | ||
| ...from those electronic holdings. | ||
| So in terms of our ability to access it, we have been able to... | ||
| Get into and exploit a number of electronic devices, digital devices, but not all of them yet. | ||
| And then within his various accounts, we've been able to get access to some of them, but some of them we're still waiting on. | ||
| Some of them we may never get access to because of the encryption issue that it presents an increasingly vexing barrier for law enforcement, not just the FBI, but for law enforcement all over the country. | ||
| So we're still drilling into that. | ||
| We have some information, some places we've been able to look, some places we will be able to look, some places we may never be able to see, no matter how good our legal process is. | ||
| But that's what we're looking at right now. | ||
| In terms of what we've been able to find so far, a lot of the usual repositories of information have not yielded anything notable in terms of motive or like ideology. | ||
| Having said that, it does appear fairly clear that he was interested in public figures, kind of more broadly. | ||
| And, and I think this is important, that starting somewhere around July 6th or so, he became very focused on former President Trump on this rally. | ||
| Interesting. | ||
| And so one of the things that I can share here today that has not been shared yet is that we've just in the last couple days found that from our review, to your point about devices, analysis of a laptop that the investigation ties to the shooter reveals that on July 6th, | ||
| he did a Google search for, quote, And so that's a search that obviously is significant in terms of his state of mind. | ||
| That is the same day that it appears that he registered for the Butler rally. | ||
| And when you say that his electronic holdings indicated an interest to different public figures, without... | ||
| While revealing anything you're not comfortable revealing about those public figures, can you tell us anything generally about them? | ||
| Either the offices they hold, their political party, or was it simply people of a high profile? | ||
| Well, a couple things. | ||
| First, the... | ||
| The images that we've recovered so far from, I can't remember which of his various devices, appear to be what we call cached images from searches of news articles. | ||
| So if you do a news article search, of course, if there are photos on it, those photos get stored automatically in your cache, as opposed to me searching or him searching for a specific person and getting up images of that person. | ||
| As far as the pictures that are like that, There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of rhyme or reason to it so far, other than these are all prominent public people, but they cover both parties, they cover both U.S. people and even some foreign public officials. | ||
| So that part doesn't appear to, that one repository of information doesn't appear to be overly indicative of motive, other than interest in public figures. | ||
| But that could be just because he was reading news stories. | ||
| So we're still trying to drill into that. | ||
| That's why all of these outstanding legal process returns that we're waiting on for various accounts, platforms, etc. | ||
| Any one of them could be one that would have very indicative, very important information. | ||
| If I could be permitted, one very short additional question, Chairman. | ||
| From that, any indication of any other particular target? | ||
| That is, someone who was not just sort of generically the subject of the searches you described, but for which there was more of an interest than others. | ||
| The information I just described at the moment does not appear particularly indicative of targeting in its own right. | ||
| But again, that dot, once we get other information, could connect in a way that might be more meaningful. | ||
| I'm sharing that piece of information with this committee and with the American public, but I think it's important that we... | ||
| Put down a qualification. | ||
| This does not appear to be some kind of target list or something like that. | ||
| This is cached images from running searches of news stories. | ||
| And again, there's nothing at the moment, there's no pattern from that particular piece of information that is overly remarkable so far. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman. | ||
| Gentlemen, it's back. | ||
| Gentlemen from California is recognized. | ||
|
unidentified
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Mr. Director, you previously told us that you consider the situation on the southern border to be a massive security threat to our country. | |
| Is that still your assessment? | ||
| I stand by my prior testimony. | ||
| And in fact, just in the last month or so, we've conducted a significant series of arrests. | ||
| I say we. | ||
| Our Joint Terrorism Task Force is working with ICE of a number of individuals with suspected international terrorism ties. | ||
| And I have also been very vocal about the fact that since, and this is really since the last time I appeared before you, That we are increasingly concerned about the possibility, not just of a foreign terrorist-inspired attack, which is very much, very much a concern, but even the potential for a coordinated foreign terrorist attack, perhaps like what we've seen against the concert hall. | ||
| In Russia, for example, but just here in the United States. | ||
|
unidentified
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Well, the 19 suicide bombers who overstayed visas were responsible for 3,000 American deaths on 9 /11. | |
| What's your best estimate of the number of foreign terrorists who are now in our country? | ||
| I don't know that I could give you that number. | ||
| What I can tell you is we have lots of foreign terrorism-related investigations, but that doesn't mean that all of them came in It seems to me that the simplest act of terrorism would be for dozens of guerrillas to attack low-security, | ||
|
unidentified
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high-density venues, for example, Friday night high school football games all across the country at the same hour with bombs and automatic weapons that would produce thousands of casualties from coast to coast in a matter of minutes. | |
| How likely is such a scenario? | ||
| Well, what you're describing would require, of course, a lot of coordination. | ||
| But what I will tell you, and I think you're on to a particularly important point from my perspective, which is that unlike the 9-11 attacks, which, again, I was in FBI headquarters on the day of 9-11, and so I remember it vividly, and I've spent plenty of time in the period after that in my prior positions engaged with the families and the victims. | ||
| But what we're seeing more and more with the foreign terrorist threat, and frankly, also the domestic terrorism threat, is a focus on kind of like what you're talking about, what I would call soft targets, which is really for the American people's benefit. | ||
| What terrorist groups have now infiltrated our country that you're tracking? | ||
| Well, I don't know that I would say infiltrated. | ||
| We have investigations as we speak that relate to ISIS and its affiliates. | ||
| We have investigations, as we speak, that relate to al-Qaeda. | ||
| We have investigations, as we speak, that relate to al-Shabaab. | ||
| We have investigations, as we speak, that relate to the Iranian proxies, Hezbollah, and frankly, even the IRGC Quds Force itself. | ||
|
unidentified
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What foreign criminal gangs are now in our country that you're most concerned with? | |
| Foreign criminal gangs. | ||
| I mean, we obviously have investigations, a lot of investigations into, you know, gangs like MS-13, for example, and some of its counterparts. | ||
| Although I think if you were to talk to most chiefs and sheriffs like I'm doing every week, we shouldn't underestimate how prevalent neighborhood gangs are, really. | ||
| It's a lot of the gang violence. | ||
|
unidentified
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I'm concerned about those that we've allowed in through the southern border and what. | |
| They are now posing. | ||
| Do you believe that the vetting performed at the southwest border is adequate to ensure that aliens with terrorists or criminal gang ties are not being released into the United States? | ||
| Well, it's not really for me to speak to the vetting. | ||
| What I would tell you is that... | ||
|
unidentified
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You have to deal with it once they're released into the United States. | |
| And one of the concerns that I have, which I touched on briefly in my opening... | ||
| There's been a lot of focus on the number of known or suspected terrorists encountered at the border, and that number has increased over the last five or six years, and that should be of concern. | ||
| But frankly, to me, the bigger concern is individuals who either weren't on the watch list at the time they came in because there wasn't information known yet that ties them to terrorism, and it's only after they get in. | ||
| That some new piece of information developed somewhere overseas. | ||
| Now we know. | ||
| That's a bigger concern. | ||
|
unidentified
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We've been warned that they basically vet against a blank sheet of paper. | |
| They don't have a record in this country. | ||
| Border Patrol probably doesn't have any record. | ||
| They're releasing it in the country. | ||
| You find out later of the dangers. | ||
| Or if they use fake documents and there aren't biometrics to connect them. | ||
| I think sometimes there are people who come in. | ||
| Who, because of the nature of the threat information that put somebody on the watch list, there wasn't, you know, fingerprints from the person at the time, because not every piece of intelligence comes with fingerprints. | ||
| So then the guy comes in using fake ID, and there's no reason to connect him. | ||
|
unidentified
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And of course, the two million gotaways you know absolutely nothing about. | |
| Well, I don't know about absolutely nothing, because we may come across them in other things. | ||
| I mean, one of the key parts of our collective defense here... | ||
| Is that we work with 800,000 sworn law enforcement across the country, and we train them on the right questions to ask and things like that so that we can build in additional eyes and ears if they, you know, do a traffic stop or whatever happens to be. | ||
| We run a greater chance of leveraging all that to pick up people who may have slipped through the cracks. | ||
| Gentleman yields back. | ||
| The gentleman from California is recognized. | ||
| Director, we're about 100 days until the election. | ||
| Russia has attacked our democracy in past elections. | ||
| Are they seeking to do it in this one? | ||
| We assess that the Russian government continues to want to influence and in various ways interfere with our democracy, with our electoral process. | ||
| In fact, just in the last few weeks, we announced a significant disruption of a Generative AI-enhanced social media bot farm, essentially, of the Russians that was designed to be an influence operation and some of the fake, fictitious profiles of those bots purported to be U.S. persons. | ||
| So they're still at it. | ||
| We've seen that in election cycle after election cycle. | ||
| Do the Russians have a preferred candidate? | ||
| I'm not sure that I could speak to that here, but certainly what I would tell you is it's not just the Russians. | ||
| And I think that's important for people to know, too. | ||
| There's a lot of attention to the Russians, as there should be. | ||
| But we also know, you may recall that in 2020, Director Ratcliffe and I announced an effort by the Iranians to try to interfere. | ||
| And more recently, we've had indictments related to China. | ||
| Chinese MPS officers creating fictitious personas, posting false information online, full of narratives designed to sow divisiveness, discord, undermine us. | ||
| And I'm talking about narratives that they were pushing, again, purporting to be Americans, but actually Chinese MPS officers. | ||
| For example, trashing any suggestion that COVID came from a lab leak. | ||
| Trashing U.S. law enforcement on the occasion of the anniversary of George Floyd's death. | ||
| And shifting to the attempted assassination on the former president, I want to make it clear. | ||
| In America, violence has never been the answer. | ||
| Not on a certain day in January or a recent day in July. | ||
| And I just want to go through the shooting just briefly with you. | ||
| We're within the perimeter, just ballpark figure. | ||
| You know, that really goes to the security posture, which is the subject of the DHS Inspector General's review and the outside panel, independent panel. | ||
| Would you say probably more than 100, though? | ||
| I have to believe that number, but again, I don't have that number at my fingertips. | ||
| Our focus is on the shooter and his attack. | ||
| The shooter was able to get eight shots off before he was killed. | ||
| That's what it would appear, yes. | ||
| The type of weapon used by the shooter was an assault rifle? | ||
| It was an AR-style rifle. | ||
| So that means one trigger pull, one round. | ||
| Is that right? | ||
| Essentially. | ||
| Do you like to shoot? | ||
| Do I? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| Do you know the difference between an AR and a bolt-action rifle? | ||
| I'm not going to try it. | ||
| I sit here and engage on sort of firearms expertise, but I've fired a variety of weapons. | ||
| Had the shooter used a bolt-action rifle, would that have been one? | ||
| One trigger pull, one round? | ||
| That's my understanding. | ||
| Would there have been more? | ||
| Well, on an assault rifle, trigger pull, round, trigger pull, round, bolt action, non-assault rifle, what's the difference? | ||
| Is it faster, slower? | ||
| He was able to get more rounds off more quickly than he would have with other kinds of weapons. | ||
| And that's my point, is that... | ||
| We can add additional resources to protect political candidates, and we should. | ||
| People who went to that rally deserved to be protected from gun violence, just like the students at Parkland deserve to be protected from gun violence, just like the babies at Sandy Hook deserve to be protected from gun violence. | ||
| So we'll devote more resources. | ||
| We've added a presidential candidate who is also now protected. | ||
| But if we're being honest with ourselves... | ||
| We have armed this country to the teeth, and we have allowed the most dangerous people to have access to the most dangerous weapons. | ||
| Oh, like a Chinese spy had access to you? | ||
| The seven-year-old, the five-year-old, the two-year-old, the two oldest who have done multiple mass shooter drills in their classrooms. | ||
| I say that as a brother to two police officers who walk a very violent beat. | ||
| And I say that as an elected official who believes that my colleagues deserve to be as safe as I deserve to be. | ||
| When we are at political rallies. | ||
| So we really need to step back and think, if we allow these weapons to be in our country, can we truly protect our elected officials? | ||
| And can we truly protect, most importantly, our children and the next generation? | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Okay. | ||
|
unidentified
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Well, did you protect yourself against the Chinese spying? | |
| You were sleeping with? | ||
| Go to Kentucky over the last few weeks and visit with Thomas and his family. | ||
| Hear all kinds of wonderful stories about Rhonda. | ||
| Amazing, amazing lady, gentle spirit, and we're glad to have Mr. Massey back with us. | ||
| And the next five minutes belong to you, Congressman. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman. | ||
| Director Wray, how many counter snipers were present at the rally that day, and which of the counter snipers took the shot that took out the would-be assassin? | ||
| I don't have the number of counter snipers. | ||
| I know it was the Secret Service counter sniper who took the shot that eliminated the shooter. | ||
| We've conducted a number of interviews, including of him. | ||
| So was it one of the two that we see in the videos on top of the roof, or was it a different location? | ||
| I'm afraid I don't have that at my fingertips here. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay. | |
| You mentioned that... | ||
| The would-be assassin bought a five-foot ladder. | ||
| You have credit card evidence of that. | ||
| But it looks like on the scene, there was a larger ladder that he might have used. | ||
| Do you know which ladder he used to get to the roof? | ||
| And do you have possession of that five-foot ladder and the other ladder? | ||
| And do you know how the taller ladder got to the scene? | ||
| So this whole business about the ladder is something we're drilling into more. | ||
| We do have possession of the... | ||
| The five-foot ladder that he purchased close in time to his attempted assassination, that we've traced the purchase of that ladder from a receipt, a bloodied receipt that he had on him at the time his body was recovered on the roof. | ||
| We do not yet know for sure how exactly he got up on the roof. | ||
| We're looking at You know, various forensic pieces to try to kind of piece that together. | ||
| So more to come on that. | ||
| Do you know where the five-foot ladder was found or retrieved? | ||
| Was it near the roof, or was it still in his vehicle? | ||
| Neither. | ||
| I don't have it in front of me, but I know that it was not on scene, and I know that it was not in his vehicle. | ||
| But we can circle back to you. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Is there any evidence at all that he may have been in contact with somebody else before this occurred that may have had any prior knowledge or may have helped him plan this event? | ||
| Well, needless to say, that is a question that we're intensely focused on because that would obviously be incredibly meaningful. | ||
| So far, underline, so far, we have not found any evidence of any accomplices or co-conspirators. | ||
| And you're using geolocation data to see if his cell phone was near another cell phone, I presume? | ||
| Right. | ||
| We're doing lots of different kinds of cellular analysis, geolocation stuff, looking at his accounts. | ||
| From everything we've seen, which is consistent with what we've learned in interviews, a lot of people describe him as a loner. | ||
| That does kind of fit with what we're seeing in his devices. | ||
| His list of contacts, for example, is very short, you know, compared to what you would normally see from most people. | ||
| So it doesn't appear to be a whole lot of interaction between him, you know, face-to-face or digital with a lot of people. | ||
| Okay, thank you. | ||
| That doesn't mean there's not any, and that's why we're drilling into it. | ||
| We're trying to talk to anybody who's had any engagement with them whatsoever, digital, in-person, classmates, co-workers, et cetera. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Right. | |
| Appreciate that. | ||
| And now I want to talk about another possible assassination attempt, and I'll start by showing a video of President Biden, and this is from recently. | ||
| This is in the last month, if we can play that. | ||
| Gallows erected to hang the Vice President, Mike Pence. | ||
| I think it's fair to say it's one of the darkest days in the history of America. | ||
| Okay, and he's referring to January 6th. | ||
| Were there gallows erected to hang Mike Pence, as the president says here? | ||
| I'm not aware of any physical gallows. | ||
| I can't remember whether from a demonstration perspective there may not have been some... | ||
| Kind of replica or symbol of something like that. | ||
| That's my impression. | ||
| Can we show, can you raise that up so you can see it? | ||
| It looks like there was some kind of prop that was built. | ||
| The construction doesn't look like it lends itself to actually hanging somebody. | ||
| It's more of a prop, I think, as you suggested, that was erected on January 6th. | ||
| But if the president were correct, that these gallows were erected, To hang Mike Pence, that would be a very serious allegation, wouldn't it? | ||
| I would take it very seriously, yes. | ||
| Has anybody been arrested, or do you have any leads in conjunction with the erection of this gallows? | ||
| We had a picture here on the screen, if you can show it again. | ||
| It was just up there. | ||
| There's an individual here who's seen near these gallows. | ||
| Has he been arrested? | ||
| Have you identified this person? | ||
| You know, I don't know that I can speak to this specific person or the gallows that are pictured on the image. | ||
| You know, we have had, I think, 850 people who have pled guilty to federal crimes related to January 6th, and I think, you know, another 180, I think it is, convicted. | ||
| At trials, so I just can't be sure. | ||
| And some of them merely for going into the Capitol, but here the President suggests that individual intended to hang Vice President Pence, which seems like kind of a wild claim myself, given the construction of those gallows. | ||
| But if we are to take him seriously, or even if we aren't, let me just finish by saying this. | ||
| If you have no leads or you're not sure if anybody... | ||
| Who erected those gallows was arrested or is being investigated. | ||
| You know, were there any confidential human sources involved from the FBI or any other agency in the erection of that prop, those gallows? | ||
| I'm not aware of anything like that. | ||
| All right. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman yields back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Interesting. | |
| A lady from Washington is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| Welcome, Director Wray. | ||
| Political violence of any kind is dangerous, unlawful, and totally unacceptable. | ||
| Just as we all watched and then unequivocally condemned the attempted assassination attempt on our former president, I wish that we could all come together to unequivocally condemn the act of political violence on January 6th instead of defending props that were used that were harmful, dangerous props of gallows. | ||
| Attempting to show what people wanted to do to Vice President Pence. | ||
| Extremists attempted to subvert our democracy in the worst assault on the US Capitol since the War of 1812. | ||
| Many of us were trapped in the gallery that day. | ||
| We feared we would not make it out. | ||
| Insurrectionists were chasing down former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then Vice President Mike Pence. | ||
| And I myself have been the direct target of political violence when an armed man with a gun showed up at my door. | ||
| Threatened me and my family, and we actually ended up having to move our home. | ||
| So I understand the increased tenor of political violence that is wracking our country. | ||
| It has been on the rise, fomented by violent and dehumanizing rhetoric from top public officials, including the former president and members of Congress, sadly. | ||
| And bolstered by the proliferation of easily accessible guns, including assault-style weapons. | ||
| All of this violence is unacceptable, and I wholeheartedly condemn it. | ||
| I just hope we condemn all of the violence, not just one or two incidents. | ||
| Mr. Ray, today I want to focus on the role of the FBI and the need for the Bureau to remain politically neutral and independent. | ||
| The FBI cannot and should not be subject to the whims of any president. | ||
| The majority apparently doesn't think that the FBI needs to be politically neutral and independent. | ||
| They want an FBI subordinate to the president, not accountable to the American people. | ||
| That is one part of a larger plan to undermine our democracy, to remove the checks and balances that have protected us, and ultimately to subvert our freedoms. | ||
| That agenda, promulgated by... | ||
| The former president, his loyalists, and their mega allies is called Project 2025. | ||
| It is publicly available online. | ||
| I encourage everyone who's watching this to Google it. | ||
| It includes plans to undermine every part of our government, including the FBI. | ||
| And they're talking about how they're the victims. | ||
| The Project 2025 agenda says that the director of the FBI must not be independent of politics, but instead must do whatever the president orders. | ||
| Under Trump's Project 2025, Trump loyalists would undermine the non-political and independent structure of the FBI. | ||
| Project 2025 openly calls on the next conservative administration to support, quote, a vast expansion of the number of political appointees in every office across the DOJ, especially the FBI. | ||
| And so, Mr. Ray, given your extensive experience as a law enforcement professional at DOJ, Across multiple Republican and Democratic administrations, why do you think it's important that the FBI maintain political independence from the president? | ||
| I think the FBI is and needs to stay independent. | ||
| And that means protecting American people without fear or favor, upholding the Constitution and the rule of law. | ||
| And it means following the facts wherever they lead, no matter who likes it. | ||
| And I add that last part because The essence of independence and objectivity is not that an investigation is going to always yield the result you want. | ||
| Our independence and objectivity can't only be respected when you like the outcome. | ||
| That's the very essence of objectivity. | ||
| Sometimes you're going to like the result. | ||
| Sometimes you're not going to like the result. | ||
| That applies to everyone, including us. | ||
| Any number of times we're disappointed and frustrated by the results of our investigations. | ||
| But the alternative is an erosion of the rule of law. | ||
| Where the only thing that distinguishes one investigation from another is power. | ||
| And that's what you see in some authoritarian countries around the world. | ||
| So I'm not familiar with this particular Project 2025 thing. | ||
| I don't know anything about it. | ||
| But what I can tell you is, from my perspective, the FBI needs to be functioning as independent. | ||
| It doesn't mean it's not part of the executive branch. | ||
| It doesn't mean the FBI director doesn't serve at the pleasure of the president. | ||
| But it does mean that the way we do our work... | ||
| I have another question about the role of attorneys at the FBI Office of General Counsel. | ||
| How do we protect that work? | ||
| I'm sorry, could you repeat the question? | ||
| What role do the attorneys at the FBI Office of General Counsel play in ensuring that the Bureau respects the constitutional rights of American citizens? | ||
| How do we protect that work? | ||
| So, in my experience, the lawyers in the Office of General Counsel Play an incredibly important role in ensuring that our agents have their questions about how to comply with the law and conducting their work answered and ensuring that we conduct our work in the right way, which means scrupulously adhering to the laws and the rules that apply to us. | ||
| I just wanted to say before I yield, Mr. Chairman, that the Project 2025 also eliminates the FBI's Office of General Counsel in-house lawyers who are responsible for that role. | ||
| I appreciate your indulgence, and I yield back. | ||
| General Lady Yields back, gentlemen from Wingsburg. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | |
| I think it was when you were here December of last year, Mr. Ray, that you said blinking lights were going off in regards to the southern border and what is happening down there. | ||
| Has the border situation improved in terms of your assessment with the security of Americans since you were last year in December? | ||
| Well, I guess a couple things, and I appreciate the question. | ||
| So first, the blinking lights comment that I made refers more broadly to the threat environment that I'm seeing as FBI Director across a wide range of threats. | ||
| Contributing to that in a variety of ways are the threats that emanate from the border. | ||
| So it's not a comment just on the border issues, it's the threat environment that we face more broadly, in my experience in law enforcement. | ||
| I am increasingly concerned that foreign terrorists could seek to exploit vulnerabilities at our southwest border or at other ports of entry or in other aspects of our immigration system to facilitate an attack here in the United States. | ||
| I think that is something we have to be concerned about. | ||
| There's been a lot of focus on numbers, numbers of this, numbers of that, and I understand that. | ||
| But as I think was referenced in an earlier question, it doesn't take very many foreign terrorists to be a real problem. | ||
| We had 19 hijackers responsible for the 9 /11 attacks. | ||
| And we just not that long ago had a case, as some of the members of the committee will remember, where we charged an individual for trying to smuggle individuals in. | ||
| To assassinate former President Bush. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Are you concerned that the Border Patrol Chief, former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott, said that he was concerned about very, very minuscule data that they're receiving? | |
| So there's all this, we are told that illegal aliens are vetted against databases, but oftentimes they're doing biometrics as they come into this country, but not looking behind it in their home countries. | ||
| Does that concern you? | ||
| When there's not a review done in the home country? | ||
| Well, we certainly need as much help as we can get from the countries of origin of these people. | ||
| When I say origin, not just where they come from originally, but countries they've come through. | ||
| And the biometric enrollment piece is, of course, an important one. | ||
| We have situations where even if... | ||
|
unidentified
|
Are we doing a thorough enough job of reviewing them, their actions, and their lives in their home countries before they came here? | |
| Well, I mean, we need more help from our foreign partners. | ||
| There's no question about that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And I think that's an important part about our domestic partners like the CIA and others that are supposed to protect us. | |
| So there's been a lot of discussion, of course, over the last several years about the the pivot to what's called the hard targets. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Right. | |
| The understandable focus, which I support of focusing on the threat posed by China. | ||
| And Russia and Iran. | ||
| But with that comes, if you look at, for example, the withdrawal from Afghanistan, we start to lose sources of information about foreign terrorist threats from overseas, and that is a concern to me. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, my time's turning out. | |
| Has Vice President Harris met with you in regards to the border? | ||
| Well, I've been in meetings that have included the Vice President that have in different ways touched on border issues. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Has she specifically asked you for a meeting in regards to the threat that is at the border? | |
| You know, I'm not going to get into sort of specific meetings, but I can tell you that I've been in meetings that have included, among other people, the Vice President that touch on border security issues. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Did she ask you questions about what you thought? | |
| in regards to reducing this threat to the American people? | ||
| I really can't get into specific conversations. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Is support for President Trump a security concern within the FBI? | |
| I'm sorry, I couldn't hear it. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good question. | |
| So is objection to the COVID-19 vaccine a security threat? | ||
| Not from my perspective. | ||
| - Who improved what is termed the Trump questionnaire within the FBI that was done by SIIS? | ||
| Dena Perkins, Jeffrey Ventry were behind it. | ||
| Who was responsible for that? | ||
| And did you know that there was a Trump questionnaire out there? | ||
| - So the document you're asking about is an interview outline that we only recently learned about and in my view is completely inappropriate. | ||
| I asked my team to get to the bottom of what happened and to ensure that it doesn't happen again. | ||
| And I've learned that it's not an FBI form, that its use was isolated, that it was created not by an FBI employee, but by an outside contractor, and that individual is no longer affiliated with the FBI. | ||
| We are sending what we have found to the Office of Inspector General, and we'll cooperate, of course, with anything they think. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Mr. Chairman, I'll just close with this. | |
| We keep hearing about these isolated examples, whether it's Richmond Catholics, this instance. | ||
| When is it? | ||
| Isn't it a pattern? | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| General, when he goes back, Mr. Correa. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Director Wray. | ||
| Welcome again to this committee, and I want to thank you and your agents for Good job you're doing to protect Americans. | ||
| Earlier this week, I was part of the group that went out to visit Butler, Pennsylvania Homeland Security members. | ||
| I agree with my colleagues that have said violence has no part in our democracy. | ||
| And I trust you will investigate the events surrounding July 13th early. | ||
| I'm going to ask you a question. | ||
| I hope you keep it in mind as your investigation proceeds, which is, who's in charge? | ||
| Who's in charge at a campaign rally? | ||
| Setting it up. | ||
| Secret Service or a campaign? | ||
| And I ask this question because when I was there, I had a couple of law enforcement individuals alluding to that question as well. | ||
| They gave me an example. | ||
| They said, If a Secret Service says you need to set up a line of dump trucks behind the stage to serve, to protect the candidate, and the campaign says that's bad optics, who ends up winning the debate? | ||
| So my question is, who's in charge? | ||
| And as you investigate this crime scene, I hope you ask the locally elected officials I spoke to a county supervisor, local police and sheriff. | ||
| They all had information they wanted us to know, to relay. | ||
| We just didn't have the opportunity to sit down and talk to them. | ||
| There was a lot of concern that they weren't given enough time to prepare for this rally. | ||
| They thought there were things that could have been done better. | ||
| And ultimately, what I keep thinking, what I keep coming back to is, Question, who's in charge at these rallies? | ||
| I think it's an important one because we have an election right around the corner. | ||
| Pennsylvania, Butler, these areas, battleground states around the country will continue to be areas where our candidates, both sides, will show up and the threats will continue to be there. | ||
| So I hope, Director A, That you'll keep that statement in mind as you continue to investigate this crime scene? | ||
| Well, I appreciate the question. | ||
| I will tell you that we've conducted well over 400 interviews, but we have many more still to conduct. | ||
| And as is not unusual in an investigation, I'm sure there will be situations where we have to go back to people. | ||
| We've already interviewed with follow-up questions, and our interviews cover a wide range of people. | ||
| I do think it's important. | ||
| To make sure that the committee and the American people understand the scope of our investigation versus the scope of others. | ||
| Our investigation is focused on the shooter and his attack. | ||
| There is, of course, and I understand completely why, two separate, there are two separate reviews, one by the DHS inspector general and the other by this outside independent panel that's been announced that are focused on the security posture The adequacy of the security posture at the rally, secret service decision making and actions and things like that. | ||
| And so I certainly understand why there are all those questions. | ||
| But those are those are in scope of those two other reviews. | ||
| And of course, whatever, you know, Congress chooses to do our investigation, though. | ||
| Because of our interviews of people who are on the scene, we'll relate to that in some ways, and we're going to share whatever we learn that's relevant with those other reviews. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Director A., my last minute that I have, I'm going to flip quickly to your good job resources. | |
| Earlier this year in the Appropriations Committee, you testified that you were, for 2024, your budget was $500 million below what you needed to sustain your 2023 efforts. | ||
| A few minutes ago, you talked about foreign terrorists. | ||
| Last few weeks, I know information has emerged. | ||
| That information came from FISA information that was able to be collected overseas on these possible terrorist threats. | ||
| What we have here today is a domestic terrorist, what looks to be a lone wolf. | ||
| Your statements, there's nothing really there that... | ||
| Would have tipped anybody off to this individual. | ||
| Is that what I'm hearing from you? | ||
| Well, I don't know that I'd go quite that far because we're still investigating a lot related to the shooter. | ||
| It does appear so far that we're seeing less in my six seconds. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I would just say I would ask that you let us know what resources you need to protect the American public and our candidates in our democratic system. | |
| I would appreciate the question. | ||
| I would just say this. | ||
| We are in, as I've said consistently today and for quite some time now, we are in an elevated threat environment covering a wide range of threats. | ||
| And the FBI is central to protecting American people from those threats. | ||
| And state and local law enforcement, who depend on us every day, rely on us for all sorts of services, databases, forensic support, training. | ||
| I could go on and on and on. | ||
| And a lot of those departments, unlike the FBI, I've had a hard time recruiting. | ||
| And so this is not a time to pull back on our funding because we're going to leave our brothers and sisters in state and local law enforcement twisting in the wind. | ||
| And then by extension, the American people were all collectively sworn to protect. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| And Mr. Chair, I yield. | ||
| Gentleman yields back. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Chairman. | ||
| Thank you, Director Wray, for being here. | ||
| Here we go. | ||
| Chip Roy. | ||
| With President Biden. | ||
| I don't have the exact date, but it's been certainly since the shooting. | ||
| So you have spoken to the president since the assassination attempt on President Trump's life? | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
| And what was the mental state of the president? | ||
| We had a perfectly professional conversation. | ||
| And do you have any scheduled briefings of the president upcoming? | ||
| Not at the moment, specifically scheduled, no. | ||
| In 2016 and 2015, top FBI officials infamously texted about their insurance policy to make sure Trump was never elected or inaugurated as president. | ||
| Have any FBI agents texted, emailed, or expressed disappointment that Trump survived the assassination attempt or otherwise editorialized about the assassination attempt? | ||
| I don't know about any agents. | ||
| There have been at least two instances, I think, or one instance of an individual who posted something. | ||
| That I consider outrageous, totally inappropriate, and unacceptable. | ||
| And that individual has been referred to our inspection division, which is the arm, our sort of internal affairs, investigatory arm that does the disciplinary process. | ||
| Will you report back to this committee any other incidents? | ||
| I'll do my best to share information with the committee. | ||
| You testified earlier that the FBI maintains high standards irrespective of so-called diversity efforts. | ||
| Is it true that in December of 2016, former Director Comey lowered the passing standards for Phase 1, allowing an influx of previously unqualified applicants to continue in the hiring process who normally would have been stopped back in December of 2016? | ||
| Yeah, I can't speak to Director Comey's changes. | ||
| I can tell you that, at least since I've been Director, changes that we have made to... | ||
| We're standing on a specific question. | ||
| Were standards changed? | ||
| Phase 1, the specific part of the process. | ||
| Were they changed in 2016? | ||
| Well, I don't recall if they were changed in 2016. | ||
| Obviously, I started, as your question presupposes, after that. | ||
| What I can tell you is, since that time, we have made changes to various phases of the process, but none of them, this is important, none of them lowered the standards. | ||
| In fact, if anything... | ||
| They actually increased. | ||
| Are you familiar with the reporting that we have? | ||
| And we've asked questions to you about this. | ||
| I'm not sure the result of the question is that to more, quote, easily accommodate a large pool of available applicants, FBI special agent hiring standards have been relaxed and requirements measurably lowered. | ||
| This, according to a group of former agents who have testified about this and written a report and submitted it to Congress. | ||
| In addition, specifically, minority, people with 20-year careers, one in particular, a minority who served for more than 20 years. | ||
| Wrote in this report and submitted it to Congress saying these standards were in fact lowered and that in fact if you were hiring, you were moved off of hiring if you put quality above these kinds of DEI requirements. | ||
| Do you reject this report? | ||
| And do you have comments on this report? | ||
| I haven't read it. | ||
| You're aware of the report? | ||
| I'm aware of the report. | ||
| I know that I've read every detail of it, but I can tell you that the claim that we have lowered our standards. | ||
| To be less selective and less competitive is not accurate. | ||
| So do you believe these former agents are lying to Congress when they submit a report to Congress stipulating and suggesting otherwise? | ||
| Are you saying that they are lying? | ||
| I'm saying they're mistaken. | ||
| Okay, but they're affirmatively on the record. | ||
| They're telling us and submitting a report to Congress saying that those facts are directly and contradicting what you're testifying here today. | ||
| So I just want to be clear so we know we're saying that they are submitting evidence to our record to the contrary that you say is untruthful. | ||
| I encounter all the time when I travel around the country and have conversations with our agents, and one of the things I try to do is have meetings with some of the longer-serving agents without executive management. | ||
| The implication is it's untruthful. | ||
| I need to move on. | ||
| I've got one minute left. | ||
| Are you familiar with the case of Paulette Harlow? | ||
| She's a 75-year-old elderly woman from Massachusetts with a debilitating medical condition. | ||
| She was prosecuted for violating the Face Act and sentenced to two years in prison. | ||
| She has to go to Texas in two weeks. | ||
| She was praying at an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C. The FBI interrogated and investigated her. | ||
| Do you think it is appropriate for a 75-year-old woman who is praying at a clinic in D.C. to be put in prison for two years for that activity? | ||
| Just a simple question. | ||
| Do you think that's appropriate? | ||
| I'm not familiar with the specific case. | ||
| You're not familiar with that case. | ||
| It's been significantly in the headlines. | ||
| But you don't know how to comment on that case, that it's appropriate for a 75-year-old woman to be put in prison for two years for praying in a clinic? | ||
| Again, since I'm not familiar with the case, I don't want to start weighing in because I don't know all the facts. | ||
| But what I can tell you is that when it comes to face act enforcement and abortion-related violent extremism, I think one of the things that gets lost, and I appreciate the opportunity to clarify it, is that really since the Dobbs decision... | ||
| Actually, more of our abortion-related violent extremism investigations have focused on violence against pro-life facilities as opposed to the other way around. | ||
| And we've had a number of investigates. | ||
| We're using FASAC resources and our JTTFs. | ||
| We're still waiting on responses on letters that we've sent indicating the data to the contrary. | ||
| There's been a significant amount of efforts in targeting of people who are pro-lifers who go to clinics and that they've been prosecuted, like this case, a 75-year-old woman who is now going to jail in Texas for two years. | ||
| Because she was praying at a clinic in Washington, D.C. And we've submitted questions on that, and I'd appreciate a response on it. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman yields back. | ||
| General Lee from Pennsylvania is recognized. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you so much. | |
| And thank you, Director Wray, for being here and for the work that your team does, as well as for sharing the information that you've been able to today. | ||
| You just got a couple questions about that seem to imply that there was some problem with She looks worse than Biden. | ||
| And certainly the 1950s version of the FBI was singularly Caucasian male agents, et cetera. | ||
| Is the FBI a better- What are you, translucent? | ||
| A diverse range of- Are you a ghost? | ||
| Employees and agents? | ||
| Corpse? | ||
| I think diversity makes us better, but like everything else, it has to be done the right way. | ||
| I think we can have a more diverse workforce and do it without lowering our standards, and that's, in my view, what we've done. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And you haven't lowered standards at the FBI. | |
| We have not. | ||
| I repeatedly come across people who are confused about different parts of that, and I appreciate the opportunity to set that straight. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Yeah, I think we're all concerned here as we've seen the rollout of this Project 2025 that purports to try to eliminate any reference to diversity efforts across the entire federal government. | ||
| So it is sort of a top-of-mind concern as it's threatening to become reality. | ||
| So what I did want to talk about today is... | ||
| Something some of my colleagues have mentioned, which is the normalization of threats and violence against public servants at all levels, whether it's election workers or school officials, elected officials and their families, judges, federal law enforcement agents and others. | ||
| To be clear, I think it's very clear that the majority of Americans wholeheartedly condemn any sort of political violence and understand that it's not legitimate discourse and that it has no place in our civic life. | ||
| But words do matter, and they have consequences, particularly when uttered by people in positions of leadership. | ||
| So that's why I remain very concerned by the willingness of some members of Congress to repeat disinformation and conspiracy theories that undermine trust in our public institutions, which serve all Americans. | ||
| And when elected officials embrace overheated or fact-free rhetoric, it becomes dangerous. | ||
| I have been heartened, as many national leaders have unequivocally condemned calls to violence, and I would urge all members of this body to do so and continue to do so, regardless of the party affiliation of the perpetrators or the targets of such threats. | ||
| You and our other national security officials have repeatedly warned us that foreign actors are actively working to spread disinformation to influence our elections and discredit. | ||
| Our public institutions and we shouldn't be aiding and abetting them. | ||
| So to live in a country that we aspire to where our most valued democratic processes like free and fair elections can be carried out unimpeded and people can run for office, serve their communities, and exercise their right to vote without fear of violence, we've had some concerns about violence around our elections. | ||
| In 2020, the endorsement and promulgation of falsehoods about the election results by the former president and his campaign led to threats and attacks against election officials and poll workers individually. | ||
| And those falsehoods also wasted millions of taxpayer dollars on frivolous lawsuits. | ||
| Extraordinary security costs. | ||
| So as we're again approaching November, we want to ensure that those who implement and defend our elections, our neighbors and our nonpartisan civil servants, can do that important work free from conspiracy theories and threats. | ||
| So we know our local law enforcement across Pennsylvania are preparing for disruption and threats. | ||
| Because while Pennsylvania may be a battleground state in the upcoming election, that battle should obviously be a war of words over policy and the vision we're charting for our country's future, not an actual civil war. | ||
| So how is the FBI working with state and local law enforcement to prevent and respond to election-related violence, particularly against election workers? | ||
| So in a variety of ways, we're partnering with state and local law enforcement. | ||
| Obviously, the physical security in the first instance, in most of the respects you're talking about, is in the ordinary course, the responsibility of state and local law enforcement. | ||
| But we play an important role in a number of ways. | ||
| So we share, you know, threat bulletins, information like that about things to be on the lookout for, things we're seeing, if we ever have specific... | ||
| Threat information, and we work to get it to the right people. | ||
| We have election crime coordinators, which we've had for decades in all 56 field offices who have existing relationship with not just state and local law enforcement, but election officials, especially focused on security and threat-related issues. | ||
| And then, of course, we're participating in the Election Threats Task Force that DOJ set up, which is focused on. | ||
| Threats of violence, or actual violence, against election workers specifically. | ||
| And we've had a number of arrests and even some convictions already on that. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you for your input. | |
| I yield back. | ||
| General Lady yields it back, Director. | ||
| It's my intention to go approximately another half an hour. | ||
| Then we will break for the Prime Minister of Israel's address to the Congress on the floor, give you a chance for lunch, and then resume after that. | ||
| But we'll keep pushing through for the next half hour if we can. | ||
| The General Lady from Indiana is recognized. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | |
| Thank you, Director Ray. | ||
| I think you have a little bit Better tone and conversation, so I appreciate it and answer some questions, so I appreciate it. | ||
| Hopefully you'll answer also on two letters that I sent you over a year ago, one related to Durham report and the other one related to Russian infiltrated SBU that collaborated with FBI, so hopefully we'll get these answers and hopefully we'll start doing authorization. | ||
| Don't you think doing authorization would help us to get better answers? | ||
| Conor should probably work in authorizing your agency. | ||
| Don't you agree with that? | ||
| We work very hard to try to get information to this committee and to other committees. | ||
|
unidentified
|
But authorizing spending probably would be a good thing for us to do, don't you agree? | |
| I'm sorry, authorizing what? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Our spending, not just doing appropriating, but actually doing authorization of spendings for this committee. | |
| Yes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay, thank you. | |
| We might start doing that. | ||
| But we can talk about, and a lot of my colleagues on other side, you know, AR-15 gets a lot of bad rap, you know, like to bring it up, this issue. | ||
| But really, there are a lot of hunting rifles that probably may be even more accurate than a lot of ARs. | ||
| And don't you agree? | ||
| We have like millions, right? | ||
| Don't you agree? | ||
| We have millions of rifles owned by low-abiding Americans. | ||
| So do you think we should be taking them? | ||
| Millions of rifles from law-abiding Americans? | ||
| What do you think about that? | ||
| Would that be something feasible? | ||
| And really, we should be doing that? | ||
| Well, again, I'm not going to be addressing anybody's specific legislative proposal. | ||
| From our perspective, from the FBI's perspective, the concern is any dangerous weapon in the hands, in the wrong hands. | ||
| In the hands of the wrong person. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Not all weapons are dangerous, right? | |
| I'm sorry? | ||
|
unidentified
|
All weapons are dangerous. | |
| Knives are dangerous. | ||
| Explosives are dangerous. | ||
| There are a lot of weapons. | ||
| Weapons are by their very definition. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Are we going to be confiscating, you know, hunting rifles and rifles for millions of Americans? | |
| Do you think it's even feasible to do something like that from low Biden citizens? | ||
| It's not something I'm advocating. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay, well, thank you. | |
| I appreciate that. | ||
| So we have to go back. | ||
| That was a catastrophic failure of security. | ||
| That's what's happened. | ||
| You know, recently was attempted assassination. | ||
| Don't you agree with that? | ||
| Well, I think former Director Cheadle has already publicly acknowledged that it was, I think her words were, a significant operational failure. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Dan, we had, you know, similar situation, a different, you know, talking about bad optics. | |
| Speaker Pelosi at the time didn't want to have bad optics on January 6th, and we didn't have proper security here on January 6th. | ||
| That was a catastrophic failure, too. | ||
| Are we looking at that? | ||
| Any one conclusion was made from that? | ||
| Have we made any adjustments? | ||
| Because not a lot of people, you know, got hurt now just being here. | ||
| There was a lot of cases bringing up the Department of Justice, and a lot of them were really just law-abiding Americans that were really just upset with the government, and they have a reason to do it. | ||
| So I think we need to think about it before we prosecute, instead of actually, you know, looking at how we can deal with real criminals. | ||
| And how we can have a proper security when we have events with so many people there. | ||
| So, did you have confidential human sources? | ||
| I think you never answered that question on January 6th in the Capitol. | ||
| Did you have some? | ||
| I'm sorry, what's the question? | ||
| Confidential human sources. | ||
| Did you have them on January 6th in the Capitol? | ||
| Again, I'm never going to be getting into when and where we have or have not used Confidential Human Sources. | ||
|
unidentified
|
You will understand the record that you had no Confidential Human Sources that went into capital on January 6th. | |
| As I've said consistently, I'm not going to get into where we have or have not used confidential human sources. | ||
| I can tell you that if you are asking if the violence at the Capitol on January 6th was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources or agents, the answer is no. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I didn't ask you that. | |
| I asked you, did you investigate if you, any... | ||
| Confidential human sources, did you do any investigation and looking at that? | ||
| So you're not answering if you had any or not. | ||
| So if you had potentially, did you do anything you needed to make sure to investigate that none of your sources did anything wrong? | ||
| If they did wrong, they were prosecuted the same way, like you're trying to prosecute a lot of people? | ||
| Really, even in the Supreme Court rule recently, that's some unconstitutional charges. | ||
| Let me just add. | ||
| That there have now been, I think, 180 individuals who've gone to trial, in addition to the 850, who've pled guilty. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Right, but I think the problem is, if you put these charges, a lot of people would feel guilty. | |
| But let me say, just quickly, because I only have 10 seconds, really. | ||
| So I hope you will take seriously what you're doing. | ||
| You know, related to the border security, it's also a crisis. | ||
| You know, have... | ||
| Your vice president was leading on that. | ||
| Has she actually initiated meetings with you to lead, like weekly or monthly meeting, where she actually get briefings from you as a leading border czar that had that function? | ||
| Have you had that? | ||
| Have she initiated any meetings on a regular basis with you? | ||
| Again, generally, his time has expired. | ||
| The gentleman can respond. | ||
| Right. | ||
| On this issue of confidential human sources. | ||
| Number one, I will say there is a DOJ OIG review that's underway that I think addresses some of these kinds of topics, I believe, but I won't speak for the Inspector General. | ||
| Second, as to this suggestion, which I've heard all too many times, that somehow January 6th was orchestrated by FBI agents or sources, I will note that in addition to my prior comments, That there have now been 850-ish individuals who've pled guilty, another 180 who've gone to trial. | ||
| They've all had access to defense, counsel, discovery, all the things the Constitution and the rules provide them. | ||
| It's been in front of something like 15 different judges, I think dozens of juries, and not one has given credence to this notion. | ||
| And in fact, I don't think any of them have even really seriously tried to raise it. | ||
| So it's not just my word for it. | ||
| Look what's happening in the cases. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| A gentleman from Colorado. | ||
| That's actually literally false. | ||
| What he just said there is completely and totally false. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Director Wray, for being here, for your testimony today, for the work that you do each and every day, and that your frontline agents across the country do each and every day to protect Americans, to keep our country safe. | |
| Also grateful for the work that you're doing in investigating the horrific events of July 13th and the attempted assassination of former President Trump, which everyone... | ||
| Well, we are devoting massive amounts of resources to this specific investigation. | ||
| We have easily several hundred. | ||
| FBI agents, analysts, and professional staff working on it. | ||
| It involves over half of the FBI's 56 field offices, almost every headquarters division. | ||
| We even have some of our overseas offices working on it. | ||
| You might say, well, why is that? | ||
| Well, because some of the companies that involve accounts or purchases or communications or what have you that the shooter used are foreign companies, so we have to get... | ||
| Evidence from overseas from those companies. | ||
| I've talked about our lab a little bit earlier today. | ||
| We've got our office of technology division working on the digital devices. | ||
| We have our behavioral analysis unit, our BAU, working on helping us build out a profile of the shooter. | ||
| I could go on and on and on. | ||
| So it's all hands on deck on this case, as I think is appropriate. | ||
| Now, when you ask about our resources, I've been public about the fact that the fiscal year 24 budget Put us $500 million below where we needed to be to sustain current operations. | ||
| Maybe you can give up your private jet. | ||
| FY25, the current House mark would put us significantly further back behind that and would result in significant risks across every program and our support to state and local law enforcement. | ||
| We arrested something like 50 violent criminals per day every day last year. | ||
| The current mark would mean more violent criminals on the street, more neighborhoods at risk. | ||
| We have about a 1,300% increase in our investigations related to China and its targeting of us. | ||
| And I can assure you China's not cutting its budget. | ||
| This would mean more threats from China. | ||
| We have something like 300 to 400 investigations just into cartel leadership. | ||
| And about hardly a week goes by when some FBI field office isn't seizing enough fentanyl to wipe out an entire state. | ||
| That mark, those cuts, means more fentanyl on the street, more people dying. | ||
| So the people who suffer the most are state and local law enforcement. | ||
| And the American people were sworn to protect. | ||
| And so we look forward to working with Congress, but we really need to be smart about what we're doing. | ||
| And I think that would be a step in the wrong direction given the threat environment that we face. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And I couldn't agree with you more, Director Wray. | |
| And of course, we've talked about this during previous hearings in which you've testified. | ||
| And to be clear, I think the budget that House Republicans have proposed, which is about a $325 million cut to the FBI, would do precisely what you've described and have deleterious impacts. | ||
| For public safety across our country, and the House Democrats are certainly working to prevent those cuts from taking place. | ||
| You've talked at great length about the events of July 13. There's justifiably a lot of public interest in the investigation, which we understand is ongoing. | ||
| I wonder if there's anything that you'd like to disclose or provide to the committee or to the public that perhaps has not yet been gleaned during the course of this hearing. | ||
| I'll just give you an opportunity. | ||
| There's a lot of folks. | ||
| Related to the investigation. | ||
| One thing I can give an update on, which is pretty fresh here. | ||
| We had some conversations with some of the members about the access to the roof and the ladder and so forth. | ||
| And our evidence response teams and their forensic collection, we now believe that the subject climbed onto the roof using some mechanical equipment. | ||
| On the ground and vertical piping on the side of the AGR building. | ||
| In other words, we do not believe he used a ladder to get up there. | ||
|
unidentified
|
One question, if the chairman might indulge me with just a few extra seconds. | |
| There's an article recently regarding several former Trump administration national security officials who had received a duty to warn briefing from the FBI regarding the potential threat from Iran. | ||
| And I think there is this article made clear deep concern these individuals have justifiably so about the threat level, particularly given the events of the last several months, and the need for there to be an increased security posture and security personnel for former officials who may very well still be at risk. | ||
| And I don't know if you're familiar with that article. | ||
| I'm trying not to use names here, but I think Would perhaps follow up with your agency and with the Department of Justice more broadly to ensure that any individuals who are potentially facing a threat from Iran or another hostile actor in a foreign nation have the resources they need to have the security available to them? | ||
| So again, without reference to any specific individual, I want to be very clear about this because I've tried to be vocal on this, but it sometimes doesn't get noticed as much. | ||
| Which is that in my view, the Iranian government has been extremely aggressive and brazen. | ||
| We have seen in the last few years an attempt, I'm speaking just from public information now, an attempt to assassinate a former U.S. national security advisor on U.S. soil. | ||
| We have seen an attempt first to kidnap and then to try to murder an American dissident /journalist. | ||
| Who's a critic of the Iranian regime, right smack in the middle of New York City. | ||
| We have seen a cyber attack against a children's hospital in New England that ties back to Iran. | ||
| We have seen, as I've testified before, as Director Ratcliffe and I announced, an effort by the Iranians to target the 2020 presidential election. | ||
| And that's all before you even get to the fact that the Iranian government is the leading state sponsor of terrorism. | ||
| So if that's not enough to convince people that Iran is a threat, I don't know what is. | ||
| But, Director, was there a distinction between what the gentleman from Colorado raised and what you just said, this general concern in these specific incidents you talk about, and a direct, specific threat on President Trump that's distinct from what you've been describing as this general concern with Iran? | ||
| Well, again, I can't get into specific pieces of class. | ||
| And if so, when? | ||
| If it was a distinct... | ||
| Right. | ||
| On President Trump, when did that take place? | ||
| Yeah, all I can tell you, certainly in this kind of setting, is targeting of U.S. officials for the Soleimani strike is something that is a reality that the Iranian government has at times called for very publicly. | ||
| And whenever there is reporting – let me try to answer your question this way – whenever there is reporting, About any of those protectees, we share the information in a variety of ways, working with the intelligence community, working with whoever is the protective service with responsibility for that individual, and we do it in a timely way using the duty to warn process that was just referred to. | ||
| And to my knowledge, everything along those lines that's relevant was shared in a timely way with the relevant people. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| The gentleman from Wisconsin is recognized. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Director Ray, thanks for being here. | |
| Where were you when you heard that President Trump was shot and then what were like your immediate actions response to that as director? | ||
| I was about to have dinner with family and I was horrified and angry. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm just thinking the reason I asked the question is because I'm thinking, I'm still trying to figure out kind of lanes, what the FBI would respond to and what the Secret Service has the responsibility to respond to. | |
| Can you just kind of cover that again? | ||
| So, the FBI is not responsible for, it's never really been part of our mandate or mission for the physical security of venues of specific protectees or anything like that. | ||
| If it's somebody within Secret Service's scope, that's their mandate and mission. | ||
| We are a law enforcement and intelligence agency, and so if you think about it this way, we're the Federal Bureau of Investigation. | ||
| We're not the Federal Bureau of Security. | ||
| You might say, well, what's the difference? | ||
| Well, there is a difference. | ||
| We investigate crimes. | ||
| We investigate threats to national security, but we don't. | ||
| Questions about security posture, the adequacy of resources and assets that were deployed to protect a specific individual, whether there's enough security, and certainly the Staffing of that security is not something the FBI, again, we're 116 years old, has historically done. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So at this point, have you been able to go through the shooter's home and kind of document kind of what you found as far as evidence goes? | |
| So we have been able to search the shooter's home. | ||
| Tying your first question to your second question now, you know, our role is to conduct an investigation of the shooter and the attack. | ||
| And so we're going to conduct a painstaking, intense investigation of that. | ||
| We have, among other scenes that we've processed using evidence response teams, in addition to the rally scene itself, of course, we have been through the individual's, the shooter's home, his bedroom, other parts of the house, etc. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Have you been able to establish that he did go to a range? | |
| And either zero that weapon in or, you know, at least target shoot that weapon prior to the assassination attempt? | ||
| So we do assess that he went to a shooting range the day before. | ||
| Not the only time he went to a shooting range. | ||
| He was a fairly avid, might be a little strong, but a fairly avid, you know, shooting hobbyist. | ||
| And so he went to, you know, belonged to different sort of clubs and went to certain ranges and that kind of thing. | ||
| We do believe, based on what we've seen so far, that he went to a shooting range the day before and that he shot an AR-style rifle at that range the day before. | ||
| I'm not sure we know for sure that it's the weapon that he used, but I think we assess that it probably is. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Have you been able to interview his parents? | |
| Yes, we have. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And was there anything that was gained from that interview that would lead you to believe that they certainly were aware of what was going on? | |
| I guess I want to be careful about talking about specific people's interviews, but I would say that his parents were cooperative with us. | ||
| And as I've said before, and hopefully this gets at your question, we have not identified any accomplices, co-conspirators, or anything along those lines. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So it's the FBI's position right now that he still acted independently? | |
| Again, I know it seems like a lifetime since July 13th, but we're still early stages. | ||
| But we have not seen anything so far that would suggest to us that he acted with others. | ||
|
unidentified
|
How does the FBI view not just a Trump rally, but political rallies versus other types of events from a security perspective? | |
| Compared to a college football game or any mass, large crowd-type gathering. | ||
| I think one of the things that's most difficult to really swallow at this point is the idea that these Trump rallies have been happening for years and that there could be such a lax approach to the physical security of those fairgrounds that day. | ||
| I'm wondering, you know, Where does this fall? | ||
| And then on top of that, that there were other presidential candidates out there that didn't have full Secret Service protection. | ||
| RFK Jr. has been the most vocal about it. | ||
| I was wondering if you could comment on the facilities as well as providing security for presidential candidates. | ||
| Well, again, I want to be a little bit careful to stay in my lane because, again, security posture and the adequacy of the security posture is... | ||
| Is really the core expertise and responsibility of agencies like the Secret Service. | ||
| But certainly it is, I think, fair to say that outdoor events, whether they're political rallies or, as you say, a college football game in an open stadium, a concert, these are places that are often particularly challenging to secure adequately because the range of threats that can face them are higher. | ||
| In addition to that, as has been discussed a little bit here already in today's hearing, just threats to public officials, including politicians, is an increasingly pervasive part of today's landscape. | ||
| And so that adds to the challenge. | ||
| So you're talking about the combination of individuals who are increasingly targeted for violence, combined with Venues that are softer and harder to secure targets, I guess is the way I would answer. | ||
| But again, those kinds of questions, the adequacy of the security posture, all the resources that were or were not to vote, all that stuff, is my understanding, would be very much in scope for the DHS Inspector General investigation and this outside independent panel. | ||
| The gentleman yields back. | ||
| Director, I think we're going to be able to get two more members' times a question, then we have to get to the floor for the Prime Minister. | ||
| General Lee from Georgia is recognized. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Chair Johnson. | |
| And thank you so much, Director Wray, for your transparency and your testimony today. | ||
| First, I want to say my friend, my mentor, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, was known by many as the voice of reason here in Congress. | ||
| And she was my friend before I even came to Congress. | ||
| And in my freshman year, she kind of took me under her wing, and she kind of showed me the ropes. | ||
| And she was a force to be reckoned with, and I can say that she will never, ever be replaced. | ||
| And she was a trailblazer, and I know that she will sorely be missed here in Congress. | ||
| Director Ray, I only have one question for you today, but before we get to that point, I'd just like to reiterate today that political violence is never acceptable. | ||
| Regardless of how different our political values and views are, attempted assassinations are staying to the very democratic ideals of this nation. | ||
| We have endured riots on Capitol Hill on January 6th, where a literal noose was erected on Capitol grounds. | ||
| Oh my gosh. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For then Vice President Pence and Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi. | |
| Liberal violence against election workers. | ||
| That has been expressed today. | ||
| An attack on Paul Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi's husband. | ||
| By a leftist. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Threats against the FBI agents, as you have expressed, and prosecutors, and threats to the staff who serve the public every single day. | |
| Congressman Connolly's staff was targeted and attacked last year. | ||
| And now we have the attempted assassination of a former president of the United States. | ||
| All of this within just the last three years. | ||
| This violence simply needs to end. | ||
| The assassination attempt on Donald Trump was, by the grace of God, a failure. | ||
| The weapon the 20-year-old man was able to obtain in AR-15 generally has a shooting range up to 600 yards. | ||
| And shot Mr. Trump from almost 150 yards away. | ||
| This weapon has the ability to kill multiple people in seconds. | ||
| And sadly, Corey Compator lost his life because of this man and because of this gun. | ||
| Mr. Compator's family will never be the same. | ||
| Trust me, I understand that more than anyone else in this room. | ||
| Is the near loss of a former president enough for this Congress to finally take action? | ||
| Because there are 206 of us that are already standing in the wings, ready to take immediate action to ban assault weapons today. | ||
| We need only 12 more of our colleagues to join us in courage and move the legislation to save lives of so many of the people That we are elected to serve by removing assault weapons from the hands of people who simply should not have them in their possession. | ||
| We are crippling our democracy and we are ripping apart our fellow Americans until we do. | ||
| I ask today, because it is clearly, clearly it wasn't enough to take action when the lethality of assault weapons, we lost 26 Well, | ||
| is it enough now? | ||
| Now that a former president, the very president that many of you in this room are hoping will be re-elected, almost lost his life, Because this Congress has failed to reinstate an assault weapons ban. | ||
| A ban that, by the way, Republicans joined with Democrats the past 30 years ago. | ||
| Well, fine. | ||
| If you all don't like assault weapons ban, we can bring another bill that I have introduced to a vote, the Go Safe Act. | ||
| This bill focuses on the components of the semi-automatic firearms and regulates their infrastructure sale and transfer. | ||
| This, again, is not the time for thoughts and prayers. | ||
| This is a time for action. | ||
| Director Ray, just one question I have for you. | ||
| Would you rather have your officers protected or protect someone against an assault weapon being shot from 147 yards away or standard pistol with no accessories attached? | ||
| Well, again, I'm going to refrain from appearing to comment on specific legislative proposals, but I can tell you that we have certainly concerned about the danger to law enforcement from any kind of high-powered weapon in the wrong hands. | ||
| And it hits close to home for us because just not that long ago, two great agents, Laura Schwarzenberger and Dan Alphen, Down in Miami, executing a search in a Crimes Against Children case, were shot and killed by a subject with an automatic weapon. | ||
| So, again, dangerous weapons in the wrong hands is something that, of course, from a law enforcement perspective, concerns us. | ||
| But I'm not going to wade into the legislative process. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, thank you for that answer. | |
| I'd rather give our agents a fighting chance. | ||
| And I yield back. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Director Wray, for being here today. | ||
| So we spend $3 billion a year, excuse me, on the Secret Service, $3 billion. | ||
| And it would seem that we could and should have had a better job done a few weeks ago on the 13th than what we saw. | ||
| Will you have anything to say about correcting what are the obvious deficiencies in what the Secret Service did? | ||
| For the most part, the deficiencies or adequacy or inadequacy of Secret Service's performance, decision-making, resources, all that stuff is in the purview of those two other investigations. | ||
| That is, the DHS Inspector General and the outside independent panel that's been announced. | ||
| Having said that, our investigation... | ||
| Which, as I've testified now, involves several hundred FBI employees and every asset we can bring to bear of the shooter. | ||
| Again, our investigations of the shooter and his attack, of course, involves interviewing law enforcement, including lots and lots and lots of Secret Service. | ||
| So we'll share all that with those reviews so that they can answer those questions. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The reason I'm asking this is because this isn't the first time the Secret Service has been before Congress. | |
| There was a 435-page report issued in 2015 by Congress saying, fix yourself. | ||
| They didn't. | ||
| In fact, there was a follow-up in 2019 where they had only done a few of the, I think it was 18 or 19 different specific things they were supposed to do. | ||
| They'd done some, but certainly not all. | ||
| There was another follow-up in 2022. | ||
| And again, the Secret Service had not done what Congress had asked. | ||
| I guess my question to you, Mr. Director, is what should Congress do? | ||
| A 435-page report nine years ago, and still the Secret Service didn't do what it was told to do then. | ||
| Can you help, Director Wray? | ||
| Because this type of performance is not acceptable. | ||
| Well, I think even former Director Cheadle has acknowledged that this was a significant operational failure. | ||
| If there are ways for the FBI to be helpful beyond what we're already doing in terms of our investigation, we stand ready to try to be helpful. | ||
| I do want to say, as somebody who's been in law enforcement for most of my career, I've worked with some just phenomenal Secret Service agents. | ||
| I've gone all the way back to my time as a line prosecutor, and they have an incredibly hard job. | ||
| And I have a lot of affection and respect for the men and women of the Secret Service. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm sure you do, and I'm sure you're right. | |
| But the trouble is, when Congress says you need to do these 19 things and they don't, something needs to change. | ||
| Now, the director has resigned. | ||
| But you're going to be in a position, because your agency is doing such a careful review, to say a lot about what should have been done. | ||
| I guess the real issue is much more of... | ||
| What the higher-ups in that agency are or are not doing, perhaps that's on us. | ||
| And we will share with those reviews anything that we come across that could be helpful or relevant to them for those questions. | ||
|
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Let me quickly go to some details on the actual events. | |
| It appeared to a lot of us, as the Secret Service was taking former President Trump from the stage, that he was clearly still in view of everybody. | ||
| And had there been another shooter, I didn't see him being protected. | ||
| Are you going to raise that issue? | ||
| I think that's really more in scope of these two other reviews. | ||
|
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Okay, that's fine. | |
| Let me go to the shooter as he was on top of the roof. | ||
| Apparently another officer from another police division saw him and quickly ducked down because the shooter aimed a gun at him. | ||
| And then the shooter, apparently, was he prone at the time he took the shot toward the president? | ||
| So my understanding is that the local officer that we're talking about, with the assistance of another local officer, was able to kind of get up and see onto the roof where he observed the shooter, I believe, in a prone shooting position. | ||
| The shooter then turned and faced him, the local officer, with the weapon. | ||
|
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From the prone position. | |
| That's my understanding. | ||
|
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And then he went back to the prone position. | |
| And this is all seconds before the shooter took his... | ||
|
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But that entire time, the shooter was in the scope site of the countersniper, correct? | |
| That one I'd have to double-check on. | ||
| I know we've interviewed the countersniper, but I'm not sure I know the answer. | ||
|
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The countersniper didn't take a shot until after the... | |
| Assassin attempted to shoot the former president and others. | ||
| He got off eight shots before the counter sniper shot the shooter. | ||
| What's with that protocol? | ||
| Can you get that fixed? | ||
| Well, again, I really want to be careful not to be, given the scope of our investigation, somehow second-guessing the very difficult... | ||
| Act and decision it takes for a countersniper to kill another human being in that situation. | ||
| It's all happening in seconds. | ||
|
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Eight shots. | |
| And that was after he'd been seen for 20 minutes. | ||
| I yield that. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Director, that's an important question, though, because you've talked to the countersniper. | ||
| And that, I mentioned this in our opening statement, that critical five minutes. | ||
| From 6.09 to 6.14, and what takes place there is critical, and I think that's what the gentleman was getting at, and we were hopeful that you could tell us something about your interview with the countersniper. | ||
| Yeah, I guess I want to distinguish a couple things. | ||
| There is some individual, not law enforcement, I believe, who spotted the shooter on the roof a few minutes before, but I think... | ||
| Law enforcement spotting him with the weapon on the roof is seconds before the shot. | ||
| Okay, that's important. | ||
| Yeah, I think there's two different things going on. | ||
| I think what you're saying is it wasn't maybe that if this bad guy shoots at 6 '11", then you're saying this encounter with local law enforcement that Mr. Bentz was just getting into happened just seconds before that and maybe not two minutes before that? | ||
| That's my understanding. | ||
| In other words, there's different things here. | ||
| There's an individual, at least one individual I can think of, not law enforcement, a member of the public, who observed him on the roof. | ||
| Not clear whether or not the individual saw a weapon or not, but saw him in a way that was concerning. | ||
| That is some number of, not many, but just a handful of minutes. | ||
| I think separate from that, as far as law enforcement goes, in terms of a weapon. | ||
| This local officer that we just talked about observed the individual, again, literally just seconds before the individual, the shooter, took his shots. | ||
| Separate and apart from all of that, you know, roughly, I think, maybe a little less or around an hour before the shooting, there were local law enforcement officers who observed the shooter, not up on the roof, not with a weapon. | ||
| But with, I believe, a rangefinder, kind of like you would use if you were playing golf or something, in a way that was odd and suspicious. | ||
| So that started happening with local law enforcement beforehand. | ||
| But in terms of shooter, meaning with the weapon, law enforcement, my understanding is that the first time that happened was this local officer. | ||
| Climbing up on the roof seconds before this year. | ||
| Again, we want that timeline. | ||
| I think the committee wants that timeline and communications that were taking place in that short period of time. | ||
| Again, as I've said with everything else, I really want to be careful. | ||
| I'm leaning in trying to share as much as I can here. | ||
| Facts are evolving. | ||
| Things may change, but we are working on a timeline among other things. | ||
| The committee will stand and recess until after the Prime Minister's remarks conclude. | ||
| All right, ladies and gentlemen. | ||
| Thank you for sticking with us in this hearing. | ||
| What do we make of this? | ||
| So, as I'm sitting here listening in, I'm looking for information. | ||
| And here is what I will surrender to Christopher Wray's testimony today. | ||
| And it's not a high bar. | ||
| We got way more than we got from Cheadle. | ||
| Now, Cheadle's resigned. | ||
| That doesn't make this go away. | ||
| She should still be charged criminally. | ||
| The goal of this show, the goal of this program, is to get criminal charges for manslaughter, for Corey Comprantor, for criminal negligence that could have led to manslaughter. | ||
| I'm not sure what the legal terms of that were, but other individuals were shot. | ||
| Some of them with... | ||
| Obviously, life-threatening injuries, a bullet going through your head, which is what happened to President Trump. | ||
| The goal is to charge someone. | ||
| I want people to spend the rest of their lives in jail. | ||
| I want Kim Cheadle in jail. | ||
| I want Mayorkas in jail. | ||
| Christopher Wray does not oversee the Secret Service. | ||
| Yet Christopher Wray told us an enormous amount of more detail than the lady who's in charge of the damn Secret Service, who, by the way, got an absolute... | ||
| Salting of the earth, napalming, and blistering destruction of her career, Kimberly Cheadle, will go down in history as one of the most incompetent DEI bureaucrats ever to be known in the public arena. | ||
| You'll notice a different tonality in the questioning here. | ||
| Is that merited? | ||
| Well, the FBI has been complete and total deep state scum for a long time, but... | ||
| Did the FBI engage in failures here? | ||
| I've looked at the structures, unlike Hank Johnson, who thinks Guam can tip over if too many FBI agents go there. | ||
| I've actually looked at federal structures, and no, it is not the FBI's responsibility to do protection services for Donald Trump at these rallies. | ||
| That is not Christopher Wray's responsibility. | ||
| The FBI is going in and doing a cleanup operation, and so therefore, here's what we learned. | ||
| Eight rounds. | ||
| Presumably because there were eight shell casings. | ||
| I would like to see photos of that, but let's take that on its face. | ||
| Many videos show between seven and eight rounds fired, so that seems to comport with the video evidence that we have. | ||
| We now have probably a dozen different camera angles for this. | ||
| The guy was a loner. | ||
| The guy was somebody who didn't have any contacts stored in his phone, yet was susceptible, potentially, To these operations, you know, to push these people over the edge. | ||
| Who's running those operations? | ||
| I'm not sure. | ||
| But you're going to tell me that this guy, like, made his own bombs by himself? | ||
| Don't think so. | ||
| You're going to tell me that this guy, like, was making bombs by himself? | ||
| His parents didn't know about it? | ||
| Don't think so. | ||
| According to reports, there was, like, no silverware in the home. | ||
| The home was, like, meticulously clean. | ||
| It seems like this guy was... | ||
| Already a head case. | ||
| Yet the father kept unguarded and unlocked firearms inside of the house. | ||
| This individual was searching for Lee Harvey Oswald. | ||
| This is what we learned today. | ||
| Lee Harvey Oswald distances to kill Kennedy. | ||
| Then he's allowed to go get a ticket for the Trump rally. | ||
| All right. | ||
| And then, of course, as Christopher Wray just noted, people inside of the crowd saw him with the firearm. | ||
| Climbing up on the rooftop, we've played you those clips, and police officers didn't take him out. | ||
| The snipers saw him, the snipers didn't take him out. | ||
| I think that's, I mean, we're starting to like build the pressure into the real question there. | ||
| The real question is, why didn't the sniper shoot? | ||
| The snipers saw him, we've played you footage from the sniper nest, and this program will be going there to find out. | ||
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Okay? | |
| What else did we find out from Christopher Wray? | ||
| Well, we found out more than we did from Cheadle. | ||
| About the guy's background. | ||
| About who he was. | ||
| About how many... | ||
| What firearms he was using. | ||
| A collapsible stock. | ||
| He had a backpack on, so presumably he had the firearm in his backpack. | ||
| In a collapsible capacity. | ||
| I want photos of the firearm. | ||
| I want photos of the bullet casings. | ||
| I want photos of the full crime scene. | ||
| And when we have them, of course, we'll bring them... | ||
| On to this program as best as we can to show you. | ||
| There are obviously rules against grotesque scenes that we can and cannot show. | ||
| But this is important, ladies and gentlemen. | ||
| It is important to get to the truth. | ||
| Was it better than Cheadle? | ||
| Yes. | ||
| This testimony was because he had less to hide because his agency, the FBI, was not in charge, right? | ||
| So he has less to hide, so he can throw anyone he wants under the bus. | ||
| Was it a cleanup operation for the deep state? | ||
| Totally. | ||
| Totally. | ||
| He didn't answer direct questions about Joe Biden, Kamala Harris. | ||
| He did say that Kamala Harris is often in the briefings with Joe Biden, that he hasn't had a briefing with Joe Biden, you know, sometimes in months, in a very long time. | ||
| Matt Gaetz asking some very good questions on that front. | ||
| Is it satisfactory? | ||
| Of course not. | ||
| No. | ||
| Was this satisfactory? | ||
| No! | ||
| Are there massive questions left? | ||
| Yes! | ||
| And that's why we're going. | ||
| We're going to Butler, Pennsylvania. | ||
| We're going this week. | ||
| We're going with members of Congress, and we're going because of you. | ||
| We care about you. | ||
| We care about this viewership so very much. | ||
| You give us the energy, the power to go to these places, and we are going to absorb that energy. | ||
| We're going to listen to you. | ||
| Hop in the chat. | ||
| Make your comments. | ||
| I have screens in front of me with the comment sections for every social media. | ||
| For every single social media platform that we broadcast on. | ||
| We read them. | ||
| We respond to them often in real time. | ||
| And you want more information, so we're going to go get it as best we can. | ||
| We're going to use all of the muscle and all of the leverage. | ||
| And I want to just explain this very, very simply and very clearly. | ||
| You watching this show gives us some recognition, especially in the halls of Congress. | ||
| You making this show... | ||
| Big and bigger. | ||
| And as we have grown quite exponentially and parabolically over the last couple of years, that allows us to get better guests. | ||
| You subscribing allows us to get better guests and resources to go do this work. | ||
| And so it's you that we thank. | ||
| Do you want to get to the bottom of it? | ||
| We are your agent. | ||
| We can go. | ||
| And we are going to go. | ||
| It is our responsibility, actually. | ||
| And so we just want to, on a very personal level, say thank you. | ||
| Corey Compertor is a man who subscribed to this channel. | ||
| He is the firefighter father and dear Patriot who lost his life, who we should be remembering. | ||
| There should be a memorial for him, actually, in those hearing rooms. | ||
| And everybody should have lionized and remembered him with their opening statements. | ||
| Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be fighting for that America. | ||
| We'll be fighting for Corey. | ||
| And we'll be thanking you for tuning in and for giving us the capacity and the energy to go do this. | ||
| And we are going to go. | ||
| We are. | ||
| Stay tuned. | ||
| So, without delay, here is our verse of the day from Psalms 21. Though they plot evil against you and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed. | ||
| I was talking to a friend as I was getting in my car today to go to work. | ||
| And my buddy was walking down the sidewalk. | ||
| And you live in your neighborhood. | ||
| You get to know people. | ||
| And they're like, what's up today? | ||
| And I was like, man, the FBI hearing. | ||
| Christopher Wray. | ||
| And he's like, man, we live in crazy times. | ||
| And I was like, we live in biblical times. | ||
| All right? | ||
| That can only be understood through a spiritual prism of good versus evil, darkness versus light. | ||
| And if you read the scriptures, you realize that it is not up for us to worry. | ||
| And to rend our garments or to wring our hands over all this and to not be able to sleep at night. | ||
| In fact, peace is a sign of... | ||
| Peace is a sign of you being saved. | ||
| So you should have peace. | ||
| You should have peace in the knowledge that Christ is king, that he's the son of God, and that... | ||
| The wicked and the evil on this earth, when they plot to kill President Trump, when they plot to do all manner of evil things, they will not succeed. | ||
| And cannot succeed. | ||
| It's a great verse. | ||
| Cannot succeed. | ||
| Ah, it's awesome. | ||
| So walk forward in that energy. | ||
| And in the energy that you get from salt and light. | ||
| We haven't salted lives on this program in quite a while. | ||
| That's very serious shows. | ||
| We hope to get back into sort of the meme energy, but these serious topics, man, they are deadly serious. | ||
| We're going to go in. | ||
| We thank you for watching. | ||
| God bless you. | ||
| March with us. | ||
| On to victory. | ||
| Ladies and gentlemen, it's your boy, Benny. |
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