Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican who served as that state’s attorney general prior to winning his seat, shredded FBI Director Christopher Wray during testimony on Wednesday over one of his field office’s targeting of “radical traditional Catholic hate groups” that also included recruiting priests as informants.
Hawley admonished Wray after learning that the director had not fired anyone after the public learned that the FBI’s Richmond Office issued a memo urging an investigation into traditionalist Catholics. After the memo was revealed by a whistleblower, the bureau “rescinded” it and then denied any wrongdoing.
“This is one of the most outrageous targeting. You have mobilized your division, the most powerful law enforcement division in the world, against “traditionalist Catholics,” whatever the heck that means. And now you’ve told us you have not fired a single person. It gets worse,” Hawley said during his questioning of Wray.
“Your Richmond field office thought there was nothing wrong with this. The House interviewed the head of the Richmond field office, he testified, it is all here in the public report… he saw no problem with this, he thought it was fine,” he continued.
“In fact, we have internal memoranda from members of the field office high-fiving. One peer reviewer, another member of the field office, wrote, ‘I think this is a great product. I really enjoyed the read.’ Do you have a problem with systemic bigotry against Catholics at the FBI?” Hawley asked.
“No,” Wray responded.
“What are you going to do about this? Are you going to fire these people or not?” Hawley demanded.
“Those individuals have all been admonished, and it is going into their– let me finish my answer. It is all going into their performance reviews and has a direct impact on their compensation, among other things,” Wray said.
“Oh, I see. So the 60 million American Catholics who now learn that your FBI has recommended that priests be recruiters and informants, your FBI has gone to priests and choir directors, but we’re to feel better because you’ve admonished them for their wrongdoing,” Hawley replied.
“You, again, are conflating two different things. We are –” Wray began before the Missouri Republican cut him off.
“I’m taking your testimony where you said you do not — categorically, you said, ‘We do not go to priests and ask them about their parishioners.’ You do not. You didn’t say, we haven’t, you didn’t say we won’t. You said we don’t. It turns out you do,” Hawley said. “And you kept it from the public. You deliberately misled Congress about it, and the only reason we know about it is because a whistleblower came forward.”
“I fundamentally disagree with your characterization,” Wray said.
“There’s no characterization, the facts are the facts. And I fundamentally resent the fact that you have violated, if not the letter of, certainly the spirit of the First Amendment,” Hawley said.
WATCH:
Josh Hawley is fed up with Chris Wray:
"You said we do not go to priests and ask them about their parishioners. You said we do not. You didn't say we haven't. You didn't say we won't. You said we don't. It turns out you do." pic.twitter.com/UKuEVTYhjK
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) December 5, 2023
