This week’s congressional hearing “interrogations” of FBI Director Christopher Wray about the politicization of his agency offered viewers no surprises, no new info — and no remorse. The witness claimed the FBI is “absolutely not” protecting the Bidens and lawmakers grandstanded with set-up questions that fell along political lines.
It wasn’t always this way.
When U.S. Sen. Estes Kefauver launched his investigation into organized crime in 1950, the Kefauver Committee’s televised hearings gripped the nation. Long before “The Godfather” and “The Sopranos,” many Americans were unaware that gangsters and mafia were emboldened by their control of politicians at the local level.
FBI DIRECTOR WRAY SAYS IDEA HE IS TARGETING CONSERVATIVES IS ‘SOMEWHAT INSANE’
That’s what’s missing in today’s congressional hearings — a real and ruthless pursuit of the truth. We need powerful cross-examinations. What we get, though, are political speeches.
“Today’s FBI leaders reflect the best of our organization,” he declared. “That’s the real FBI.”
What we did not see were serious responses from Wray, even when the questions were simple. And Wray’s supporters had his back. As in the truly disturbing hearing with smirking ex-FBI agent Peter Strzok, Democrats sidestepped the facts and time after time, let Wray off the hook.
But quite frankly, a lack of courtroom skills hobbled Republican efforts to get to the truth.
With respect — and as a former U.S. attorney — little occurred in those hearings that could be called a competent cross-examination. Not a single committee vote was changed.
This week’s House hearing with Wray did more to obfuscate the truth than reveal it. We gleaned few answers from Wray, and the rest was trampled by political posturing.
There’s clear evidence that the Department of Justice is violating its own policies in the Hunter Biden investigation. And there’s evidence from whistleblowers that the FBI leadership is “rotted at its core” with a “systemic culture of unaccountability,” according to the House Judiciary Committee report.
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