Rep. Thomas Massie’s questions for FBI Director Christopher Wray show why the congressman is one of the few I tolerate in Congress.
Remember how the left and a few Republicans with TDS went crazy over the January 6 Capitol Hill riot? Well, one of the situations left out in their insanity was the pipe bombs found in front of the DNC and RNC.
No one has found out who is responsible for the bombs.
Massie told Wray that FBI Assistant Director Steven D’Antuono allegedly said during an “interview some of the phone data that could have helped authorities track down who was responsible for the pipe bomb was ‘corrupted’ and ‘unusable.'”
Wray wouldn’t answer if the FBI interviewed the man who alerted authorities about the bombs:
WRAY: “Well, again, I don’t want to speculate about specific individuals. I will tell you that we have done thousands of interviews, reviewed something like 40,000 video files of which this is one, assessed 500 something tips —”MASSIE: “Have you interviewed that person?“WRAY: “We — we have conducted all logical investigative steps and interviewed all logical individuals at this point.“MASSIE: “Then you need 900 days — you need to tell us what you found, because we’re finding stuff you haven’t released into the public.”
Wray claimed he couldn’t comment on an ongoing investigation:
WRAY: “Well, as to the letter, I — I will work with the department to make sure we can figure out what information we can provide. As you know, this is a very active ongoing investigation. And there are some restrictions on that. But we will –”MASSIE: “We can handle classified information and we fund your department and so you need to provide that.”WRAY: “It’s not — respectfully it’s not an issue of classification, it’s an issue of commenting on ongoing criminal investigations, which is something that by longstanding department policy we are restricted in doing. And in fact the last administration actually strengthen those policies partly because –”MASSIE: “That’s not our policy, though, and we find you so let’s move on.”
Massie wanted to know more about Bank of America handing over gun purchases to the FBI. Wray wouldn’t say the FBI asked for the information. He said the bank gave the purchases to the Boston Field Office “for information only.”
Except Massie has an email that shows “the FBI gave the search queries to BOA.”
Wray immediately tried to justify it by saying it’s lawful and “it happens all the time.”
Massie reminded Wray just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s constitutional:
MASSIE: “George Hill, former FBI Supervisory Intelligence Analyst in the Boston Field Office told us that the Bank of America with no legal process was gave to the FBI gun purchase records with — with no geographical boundaries for anybody that was a Bank of America customer. Is that true?”WRAY: “Well, what I do know is that the a number of business community partners all the time, including financial institutions share information with us about possible criminal activity. And my understanding is that that’s fully lawful.”MASSIE: “Did you –”WRAY: “In this specific –”MASSIE: “– did you ask for that information?”WRAY: “– in this specific instance that you’re asking about? My understanding is that that information was shared with field offices for information only, but then recalled to avoid even the appearance of any kind of overreach. But my understanding is that that’s a fully lawful process.”MASSIE: “Was there a warrant involved?”WRAY: “Again, my understanding is that the institution in question shared information with us, as happens all the time.”
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