Wray to face questions about FBI inquiry into Trump assassination attempt

FBI Director Christopher Wray is set to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning in his first appearance since the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

The FBI is leading the investigation into the incident, which took place less than two weeks ago at a Trump rally, and lawmakers plan to grill Wray on the status of the bureau’s investigation.

A hearing with the FBI happens annually as part of the committee’s routine oversight of the bureau, and Wray’s appearance has been planned for well over a month.

However, the circumstances surrounding the director’s appearance changed dramatically in the wake of the assassination attempt, and a source familiar with the committee’s plans told the Washington Examiner the hearing is likely to be dominated by questions about it.

In anticipation of Wray’s testimony, Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) asked Wray last week for a wide range of records about the FBI’s investigation. He also alluded to distrust in the bureau, which has mainly come from Republicans in recent years who have argued that the FBI has sometimes targeted people with conservative viewpoints.

“The Committee has several unanswered questions about the failures that led to the attempted assassination of a president—the first in over forty years—as well as the FBI’s ability to conduct a rapid, transparent, and thorough investigation in the wake of its recent scandals,” Jordan wrote to Wray.

Wray is also expected to face questions about the massive security failures that led to the shooting, which left one dead and two in critical condition. The shooter, whom authorities identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was able to fire multiple shots into the crowd from a nearby rooftop and came within inches of killing Trump. The former president was instead grazed by a bullet and suffered a minor injury to his ear.

The Secret Service is primarily responsible for Trump’s security, and the historic failure led Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign from her position Tuesday. However, Jordan has signaled that he will question Wray on some of the failings as well.

Jordan wrote to the FBI director that whistleblowers informed him that the FBI was part of the security planning process when a Secret Service special agent in charge revealed that resources were “limited” the week of the rally because of the NATO summit in Washington, D.C.

Wray is also expected to be questioned about the mystery surrounding Crooks’s motive, which the FBI has not yet established.

Wray assured lawmakers last week in a briefing about the shooting that the bureau would leave “no stone unturned,” according to a source familiar with the briefing.

FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said in the briefing that agents had conducted more than 220 interviews and searched Crooks’s phone, home, and vehicle. He said evidence seized around Crooks’s body, including the rifle he used in the shooting, a remote transmitter, and his cellphone, were all being examined at FBI labs in Quantico, Virginia.

A 20-year-old with no clear ideology climbing atop a roof about 400 feet from Trump and firing directly at the former president and GOP presidential nominee has left lawmakers across the political spectrum in a state of bafflement, and they are expected to press for more details from Wray when they confront him at the hearing.

Despite the hearing’s anticipated focus on the assassination attempt, other issues could also surface. A top focus for the GOP-led committee has been what they say is the FBI’s weaponization of its authority.

Republican lawmakers could raise questions on that front about FBI whistleblowers who have come forward in recent years about their concerns that the bureau was retaliating against them, particularly for their views on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

The FBI revealed last month in a letter that it had reinstated the security clearance of one of the whistleblowers, Marcus Allen. Allen, who received 27 months of back pay, had come forward to the committee with allegations that the bureau’s move to revoke his security clearance indefinitely was retaliation, and lawmakers may now want to question Wray on what happened that led the FBI to reverse its position on Allen after more than two years.

Other topics the committee has focused on that lawmakers could broach at the hearing include FBI agents meeting with social media companies about their censorship practices and the roughly 375 migrants on the terrorist watchlist who have crossed into the United States illegally during the Biden administration.