Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is calling on FBI Director Christopher Wray, as well as Deputy Director Paul Abbate, to accept accountability for their failed leadership at the Bureau.
In a letter sent today to Director Wray, Grassley detailed how Wray has “failed in [the] fundamental duties as director.” These failures include:
- Subjecting President Trump to acontinuing double standard, including an invasive and unwarranted FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. By contrast, the FBI under Wray’s leadership:
- Sat on bribery allegationsagainst then-Vice President Joe Biden and Hunter Biden, and
- Provided an inexplicable and unnecessary briefing to Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), which was leveraged to smear their investigation into the Biden family’s financial connections as Russian disinformation.
- Refusing to provide information to Congress on sexual misconduct at the FBI, despite public pledges to do so;
- Refusing to provide information to Congress on Afghan evacuee vetting;
- Refusing to provide information to Congress on the FBI’s “Richmond memo,” which pegged faithful Christians as violent extremists; and
- Neglecting to ensure the protection of whistleblowers and suspending or revoking security clearances in retaliation for reporting waste, fraud or abuse.
“These failures,” Grassley wrote, “are serious enough and their pattern widespread enough to have shattered my confidence in your leadership and the confidence and hope many others in Congress placed in you.”
“Your and Deputy Director Abbate’s failure to take control of the FBI has hindered my work and others’ work throughout multiple Congresses on matters that needed timely information, and has prevented the truth on some issues from ever reaching the American people. You’ve also shown a continuing double standard and failure to carry through on promises. For the good of the country, it’s time for you and your deputy to move on to the next chapter in your lives,” Grassley continued.
“I’ve spent my career fighting for transparency, and I’ve always called out those in government who have fought against it. For the public record, I must do so once again now. I therefore must express my vote of no confidence in your continued leadership of the FBI. President-elect Trump has already announced his intention to nominate a candidate to replace you, and the Senate will carefully consider that choice. For my part, I’ve also seen enough, and hope your respective successors will learn from these failures,” Grassley concluded.
Read Grassley’s full letter HERE.
