His smirk might have dialed down a fraction, but Chris Wray’s performance on Capitol Hill Wednesday shows that he is the champion of all stonewallers.
When finally he is kicked out of the FBI Gulfstream, he could have a lucrative new career training other agency heads on how not to comply with congressional oversight.
There were plenty of reasons for him to offer a mea culpa for FBI abuses of power on his watch, but all we got was the usual trademark Wraysims for avoiding answering questions: “Ongoing investigation,” “I’m not sure that is a correct characterization,” “I can’t comment on personnel matters,” “We are working on an internal review,” “As I sit here right now I don’t have an answer,” “We will work collaboratively . . . consistent with our rules,” “I can’t speak to pending [fill in the blank].”
When confronted about the FBI’s collusion with social-media companies to censor Americans, as laid out in the landmark free-speech case Missouri v Biden, Wray feigned ignorance.
“The FBI is not in the business of moderating content or causing any social-media company to suppress or censor,” Wray said when Wyoming Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman accused the FBI of using “a surrogate to do your dirty work,” in circumventing the First Amendment.
A JOKE !! Nothing accomplished