Christopher Wray Archives - The Florida Capital Star

Comer Wins: FBI Relents, Agrees to Deliver Subpoenaed Memo Alleging Biden Bribery to Capitol

June 2, 2023 Just the News

Facing a potential contempt of Congress vote, FBI Director Christopher Wray relented and has agreed to bring a subpoenaed document from the Biden family investigation to Capitol Hill for lawmakers to inspect on Monday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer announced Friday. The document in question, an FD-1023, contains uncorroborated allegations that an informant provided the FBI in June 2020 alleging that Joe Biden, when he was vice president, was engaged in a bribery scheme to change US policy in return for $5 million to his family’s businesses, lawmakers have said.

FBI Chief Wray Rolls Dice with Congress over Contempt, then Jets to Las Vegas

June 1, 2023 Just the News

Just hours after informing Congress he wouldn’t comply with a subpoena and turn over an informant document on the Biden family investigation, FBI Director Christopher Wray hopped on the bureau’s Gulfstream jet and ferried off to the more friendly confines of Las Vegas.

The flight manifest for the FBI’s official jet shows Wray left the Washington suburb of Manassas, Va., at about 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday and landed about four hours later in Nevada’s most famous tourist city.

Homeland Security Department Sees ‘Heightened Threat’ of Attacks on Churches, Police and Feds Ahead of 2024 Election

May 30, 2023 Just the News

The Homeland Security Department is warning communities nationwide about an increased risk of terror attacks on churches, schools, federal installations and law enforcement heading into the 2024 election, specifically cautioning that “legislative or judicial decisions pertaining to sociopolitical issues” could trigger violence in coming months.

In a bulletin issued just before Memorial Day, the agency cited a spate of violent acts this spring, including on a Christian school in Tennessee, a shopping mall in Texas and a plot on a church in Ohio by white supremacists as harbingers for future concern.

Kevin McCarthy Threatens to Hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in Contempt over Biden Probe

May 30, 2023 Just the News

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday threatened to hold FBI Director Christopher Wray in contempt of Congress if he does not comply with a request for a document about an alleged bribery scheme involving then-Vice President Joe Biden.

FBI Formally Refuses to Produce Biden Probe Memo to Congress, Comer to Hold Wray in Contempt

May 30, 2023 Just the News

The FBI formally refused Tuesday to turn over to Congress an investigative memo alleging a bribery scheme involving President Joe Biden, prompting the chairman of the House Oversight Committee to begin proceedings to hold Director Christopher Wray in contempt. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the panel’s chairman, said he still plans to meet with Wray on Wednesday but declared the bureau’s notification of refusing to comply with a subpoena to be unfortunate.

Catholic Advocacy Group Prepared to Sue FBI for Failure to Comply With FOIA on Targeting of ‘Radical Traditional Catholics’

April 12, 2023 Susan Berry, PhD

A leading national Catholic advocacy organization says it is prepared to file a lawsuit against the FBI for failing to comply with its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that seeks communications information related to a leaked document that revealed the bureau was targeting so-called “radical traditional Catholics.”

Lawmakers Re-introduce Bill to Ban TikTok in the United States

February 19, 2023 M.D. Kittle

TikTok’s days in the United States could be numbered under a bipartisan bill re-introduced by the heads of congress’ new Committee on China.

Reps Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08) on Friday submitted the legislation, which would ban the controversial video-sharing app from operating in the United States.

FBI Keeps Getting Burned by Reliance on Liberal Sources

February 13, 2023 Just the News

A dossier alleging Russian collusion funded by a Democrat presidential candidate. A suggestion that school parents were domestic terrorists from a left-leaning school board group. A list suggesting old-fashioned Catholics were extremists from a liberal watchdog on hate speech.

Three triggers for investigation. Three blunders that left America’s premier law enforcement agency reeling with a black eye.

House Judiciary GOP Subpoena FBI’s Christopher Wray, AG Merrick Garland

February 5, 2023February 4, 2023 Just the News

The House Judiciary Committee has issued subpoenas to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland, demanding they provide the committee with documents pertaining to FVI investigations of school board meetings.

In October of 2021, Garland issued a memo highlighting “violent threats” against school officials amid a rise in parental opposition to the teaching of Critical Race Theory in public schools. That memo, directing law enforcement to address the issue, attracted considerable scrutiny from conservatives who categorized it as part of the Biden administration’s alleged “weaponization” of federal agencies.

Commentary: What the New January 6 Videos Will Show

January 15, 2023January 14, 2023 Admin

The jury trial of Richard Barnett, the man famously photographed with his feet on a desk in Nancy Pelosi’s office on January 6, 2021, is underway in Washington, D.C. Nearly two years to the date of his arrest, Barnett finally had a chance to defend himself in court on multiple charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding.

But it was not the fiery, outspoken Barnett who provided the most jaw-dropping testimony in the trial so far. To the contrary, one of the government’s own witnesses confirmed under defense cross-examination that “agents provocateur” were heavily involved in instigating the events of January 6.

Commentary: Americans Should Pay Close Attention to the FBI and Zero-Click

November 21, 2022November 20, 2022 Admin

During the Trump administration, the FBI paid $5 million to an Israeli software company for a license to use its “zero-click” surveillance software called Pegasus. Zero-click refers to software that can download the contents of a target’s computer or mobile device without the need for tricking the target into clicking on it. The FBI operated the software from a warehouse in New Jersey.

Before revealing any of this to the two congressional intelligence committees to which the FBI reports, it experimented with the software. The experiments apparently consisted of testing Pegasus by spying — illegally and unconstitutionally since no judicially issued search warrant had authorized the use of Pegasus — on unwitting Americans by downloading data from their devices.

Commentary: The Evasive Mr. Wray

August 6, 2022August 5, 2022 Florida Capital Star Staff

It was time for him to fly.

FBI Director Christopher Wray, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee for the first time since July 2021, insisted he had to leave the hearing by 1:30 p.m. sharp. (It began at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday morning.)

Whistleblowers: FBI Officials Are ‘Pressuring’ Agents to ‘Artificially Pad’ Domestic Violence Extremist Data

July 29, 2022July 28, 2022 Florida Capital Star Staff

FBI whistleblowers have disclosed to Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee that FBI officials have been “pressuring” agents to “artificially pad” domestic violence extremist (DVE) data, and have even dispensed “awards and promotions” to those who met the Bureau’s DVE investigation quotas.

‘Coordinated Campaign on a Grand Scale’: US, UK Spymasters Issue Dire Warning on Chinese Espionage

July 7, 2022 Florida Capital Star Staff

by Micaela Burrow Heads of intelligence agencies in the U.S. and UK warned against a widespread Chinese espionage campaign in a unique joint statement Wednesday. FBI Director Christopher Wray and MI5 Director General Ken McCallum addressed an audience of leaders in business and academia outside of the MI5 headquarters…

Commentary: No, Senate Republicans, the FBI Does Not Deserve a Raise

June 1, 2022May 31, 2022 Florida Capital Star Staff

The day before FBI Director Christopher Wray explained to a Senate appropriations subcommittee why his department deserves a $527.8 million raise in 2023, his agents were credited with foiling an ISIS-linked plot to assassinate George W. Bush. An Iraqi national was arrested on May 25 and charged with attempting to smuggle four other Iraqis into the United States then “murder” the former president in retaliation for the war in Iraq. (I will address the sketchiness of this story in a separate column.)

Poll: Most Republicans Distrust the FBI

January 5, 2022January 4, 2022 Florida Capital Star Staff

For decades, the Federal Bureau of Investigation enjoyed strong support from Republican political leaders and voters. But the agency’s reputation has crashed among its most dependable constituency amid scandal, corruption, and flagrant politicking on behalf of the Democratic Party.

A Rasmussen poll released today shows that 57 percent of Republicans hold an unfavorable view of the FBI; 47 percent of all likely voters surveyed at the end of December view the FBI unfavorably.

As if to prove the bureau has become the jackboots of the national Democratic Party rather than a nonpartisan law enforcement agency, a whopping 63 percent of Democrats have a favorable opinion of the FBI.

FBI Director Told Former Agents the Bureau Will ‘Stay in Its Own Lane’ and Won’t Be Attending School Board Meetings

November 13, 2021November 12, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

FBI Director Christopher Wray “made it clear” during an October speech that FBI agents “would not be attending school board meetings” and the Bureau “would stay in its own lane,” a former agent who saw the speech told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Cecil Moses, a retired FBI special agent and former police chief in Alabama, was in Scottsdale, Arizona, for the national conference for the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, where he said Wray met with former agents on Oct. 22 and assured them that the Bureau would not be monitoring school board meetings.

Commentary: Biden’s Attack on Public School Parents Cannot Stand

October 7, 2021 Admin

President Joe Biden’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland’s memo directing the FBI to investigate parents who speak out at school board meetings has shocked the nation.

The Biden administration has gone into full attack mode against the First Amendment right to petition the government as Attorney General Merrick Garland has declared that parents opposing Critical Race Theory before their local school boards should be treated as terrorists under the Patriot Act.

Commentary: The New York Times Reveals FBI Role in January 6

September 28, 2021September 27, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

The New York Times often acts as the spin cycle for the Democrats’ dirty laundry. For years, Times reporters have helped get ahead of damning news, especially when it’s related to the Russian collusion hoax, in an attempt to establish the narrative early.

A recent example is the Times article downplaying the pending indictment against Michael Sussman, the Clinton campaign lawyer who acted in cahoots with the FBI to seed the collusion tale before the 2016 election. The article was published the day before Sussman pleaded not guilty of lying to the FBI.

FBI Director Wray Refuses to Disclose Brian Sicknick’s Cause of Death

March 3, 2021March 2, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday refused to disclose the cause of death of police officer Brian Sicknick during the riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, citing an ongoing investigation.

“There is an ongoing investigation into his death. I have to be careful at this stage, because it’s ongoing, not to get out in front of it,” Wray said in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing when asked about Sicknick’s death.