U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Christopher Wray on Tuesday.
On border security negotiations:
- GRAHAM: “The Biden Administration refuses to follow the law as written [and] refuses to give up this concept of humanitarian parole because it is their way of ‘managing’ the border. Why are so many people coming now compared to before? The belief is, Mr. Chairman, you have a really good chance of never leaving. Catch and release is the policy.” https://youtu.be/RI6UXmahK74?si=MbNEYlBCBUyfJ-BZ&t=164
- GRAHAM: “You [Democrats] clearly as a party do not want to change the policies that are attracting so many people. It’s inhumane, I think, to lure people to this journey. It’s not fair to the American people to be overrun in the fashion that we are. Given the threats that exist in the world, it’s exceedingly dangerous to have lost control of your border.” https://youtu.be/RI6UXmahK74?si=pecmxPTEUyBrWWZu&t=255
- GRAHAM: “You will not get a deal from the Republican Party unless we change the policies that are leading to [9,400 on average per week] coming to our border.” https://youtu.be/RI6UXmahK74?si=Ig3E2pVT3I2uFwNH&t=222
On national security threats:
- GRAHAM: “So, blinking red lights analogy about 9/11 — all the lights were blinking red before 9/11, apparently. Obviously, all of us missed it. Would you say that there’s multiple blinking red lights out there?”
WRAY: “I see blinking lights everywhere I turn.”
https://youtu.be/MDnjCasaX9Q?si=fvfZqVLOf-p93hlb&t=97
- GRAHAM: “One of my concerns is after [the withdrawal from] Afghanistan, we put international terrorism on steroids. Are you concerned that international terrorism threats to the homeland are rising as the [southern] border continues to be broken?”
WRAY: “I am concerned that we are in… a heightened threat environment from foreign terrorist organizations for a whole host of reasons and obviously their ability to exploit any port of entry, including our southwest border… We have seen an increase in so-called KSTs, ‘known or suspected terrorists’, attempting to cross over the last five years.” https://youtu.be/MDnjCasaX9Q?si=bcfYY_O_NsUI7PXJ&t=282
- GRAHAM: “October 7 was devastating to our friends in Israel. So your testimony before this committee, since October 7 the urging of foreign terrorist organizations to attack America has gone up. Is that fair to say?”
WRAY: “Yes, the threat level has gone to a whole other level since October 7.”
GRAHAM: “Okay folks. You’re on notice. What are we going to do about it?”
