PRESS RELEASE Contact: press@congressionalintegrity.org
For Immediate Release
Date: July 24, 2024
Washington, D.C. – Today, MAGA Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing with FBI Director Christopher Wray. The hearing was intended to be about oversight of the FBI and the assassination attempt of former president Trump but it devolved into a conspiracy theory filled clown show.
In response, Congressional Integrity Project executive director Kyle Herrig said the following:
“MAGA House Republicans spent the last hours before leaving early for August recess spreading deranged conspiracy theories and repeating debunked lies. All they have accomplished since taking the majority is act as an arm of the Trump campaign. They have done political stunt after stunt and echoed conspiracy theories in the Halls of Congress that even Fox News thought were too extreme. These are not serious people and our country deserves better.”
MAGA Homeland Security Committee Republicans Spread Lies and Conspiracy Theories About President Biden, January 6th, and the FBI:
- Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) suggested that the Biden-Harris administration has been “compromised” by “pro-Hamas groups” and asked Director Wray if the FBI was investigating whether President Biden “being forced out of” the 2024 presidential election amounted to “election interference.”
- Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) questioned Biden’s mental and physical state, asking Wray questions like, “When did you notice [Biden’s] decline,” and “Who is running the country,” and “Who has been in on this conspiracy to hide the real Joe Biden.”
- Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) questioned President Biden’s mental and physical state, and floated a conspiracy theory that FBI agents have communicated with each other expressing regret that the assassination attempt failed.
- Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) claimed that January 6 insurrectionists weren’t “real criminals,” declaring, “A lot of them were really just law-abiding Americans that really just upset with the government, and they have a reason to do it.”
- Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) suggested that President Biden and Democrats who called Trump out for his threat to democracy were responsible for violent rhetoric that influenced the assassination attempt against Trump.
- Multiple members of the committee including Reps. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), Chip Roy (R-TX), and Michael Rulli (R-OH) suggested that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts have weakened federal agencies and contributed to the security failure to stop the assassination attempt.
Former President Trump Baselessly Called For Director Wray To Resign Mid-Hearing. In the middle of the hearing, former President Trump posted on his MAGA social media platform Truth Social and called on FBI Director Christopher Wray to resign his post: “…Director Wray should resign immediately from the FBI, and stop ‘sweet talking’ Congress every time he goes up, which he loves to do, because anybody can see that Joe Biden is cognitively and physically challenged, and if you can’t see that, you sure as hell can’t be running the FBI – Unless, that is, you want to illegally lead the Raid on Mar-a-Lago. Wray has to resign, and NOW, for LYING TO CONGRESS!”