Tag: Chris Wray capitol hill investigation

FBI Director Chris Wray on Thursday advised “serious charges” are nonetheless coming within the prison investigation of the lethal January 6 assault on the US Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
“This is a very ongoing investigation and there’s a lot more to come,” Wray mentioned throughout an oversight listening to held by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. “I would expect to see more charges — some of them maybe more serious charges.”
Wray testified that the FBI thought of the assault an act of “domestic terrorism.” He mentioned he understands why Democratic lawmakers have known as the assault an “insurrection,” however mentioned it might not be applicable for him to make use of that phrase due to the impact it might have on pending prison circumstances.
“In my role as FBI director, because that’s a term that has legal meaning, I really have to be careful about using words like that,” Wray mentioned.
Democratic lawmakers repeatedly grilled Wray, appointed by Trump in 2017, over what they mentioned had been intelligence failures that left regulation enforcement ill-prepared for the lethal assault.
“The FBI’s inaction in the weeks leading up to January 6 is simply baffling,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler mentioned. “It is hard to tell whether FBI headquarters merely missed the evidence — which had been flagged by your field offices and was available online for all the world to see — or whether the Bureau saw the intelligence, underestimated the threat, and simply failed to act.”
Wray responded that on January 5 an FBI subject workplace in Virginia issued an specific warning, despatched to U.S. Capitol Police, that extremists had been making ready to journey to Washington to commit violence.
Wray added that “almost none” of the five hundred folks charged to this point with taking part within the assault had been beneath FBI investigation beforehand, suggesting it might have been tough for the FBI to have monitored them upfront.
“You can be darn sure that we are going to be looking hard at how we can do better, how we can do more, how we can do things differently in terms of collecting and disseminating” intelligence, Wray mentioned.
Asked whether or not the FBI was investigating Trump or his affiliate Roger Stone, Wray mentioned he might neither affirm nor deny any FBI investigation.
“I’m talking about Mr. Big, Number One,” mentioned Tennessee Democrat Steve Cohen, referring to Trump. “Have you gone after the people who incited the riot?”
Wray responded: “I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to be discussing whether or not we are or aren’t investigating specific individuals.”