Thursday, July 13, 2023

Flotsam and Jetsam - Wray Takes the Stand

Yesterday, FBI Director Christopher Wray took the witness table for about 5 hours of grilling, mostly by Republicans unhappy with any number of events. At Da Signal,  6 Big Highlights as FBI Director Chris Wray Defends His Agency Amid Scandals. Democrats mostly used their 5 minute increments to inveigh against Donald Trump. You can find the whole shootin' match on YouTube at WaEx, WATCH LIVE: FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies before House Judiciary Committee. Or, there are a variety of selected clips, or which "Are we like...STUPID?!" Rep. Spartz gets FURIOUS with FBI Director WrayThomas Massie Confronts FBI's Wray With Shocking Video Relating To Jan. 6 Pipe BombJim Jordan Excoriates FBI For Suppressing Hunter Biden Laptop Story To Wray's Face and 'Are You Nervous About That?': Jim Jordan Brings The Receipts Grilling FBI's Wray Over Jan. 6 Sweeps are a non-exhaustive survey. 

PJM's Paula Bolyard highlights Christopher Wray 'Not Sure' if There Were FBI Agents at Capitol on Jan. 6. How can he not be? Ace, Christopher Wray: I Don't Know If There Were Any Undercover Agents at the Capitol on January 6th. Wait, It's Not That I Don't Know, It's That I Don't Want to Say. "Ooooh, quickly correcting a statement because you realize you just perjured yourself to Congress is tight! Although he didn't actually correct it. He never took back his claim that he "didn't know" if there were undercover FBI agents present on January 6th. He just added an alternative answer, in case you didn't believe his first one. So if that's a lie -- and it is -- that lie still stands." Vicky Taft at PJM, 'That's a Lie': Whistleblower Demolishes FBI Director's Story About Embedded Agents on J6

“Having organized multiple high-security events in my time in Boston, one of which was the Boston Marathon which I did for ten years – organized the security around that event.” And he claimed that “the FBI will always embed agents in the crowd in civilian attire.” He said they’d do Terry stops when they had reasonable suspicion of a crime. “There’s no way – no way – [not to have agents in the crowd]. The FBI would have had to violate its own protocol for decades not to have undercovers inside that crowd on January 6. It’s not just normal, it’s SOP, standard operating procedure.”

Another fiery exchange occurred when Matt Gaetz accused Wray of protecting the Biden Crime Syndicate. At Da Wire,  ‘Absolutely Not’: FBI Director Wray Denies Agency Protecting Biden Family. Sundance at CTH with the video, Representative Matt Gaetz Has Fiery Exchange with FBI Director Chris Wray Asking, “Are You Protecting the Bidens?”. At the Conservative Brief, Gaetz Goes On Rampage Against Wray in Explosive Hearing: ‘Are You Protecting the Bidens?’ Capt. Ed comments "Perhaps Wray isn’t, and perhaps the FBI isn’t, but it’s clear that the Department of Justice is."

At Twitchy, Christopher Wray asked to define 'disinformation' "FBI Director Christopher Wray said that disinformation wasn't really the FBI's department … well, disinformation coming from foreign agents was, but that's it." Glenn Greenwald@ggreenwald, "The reason FBI Director Chris Wray can't define "disinformation" -- even though that's the basis for the FBI's pressure campaign on Big Tech to censor Americans -- is it's a bullshit, concocted term with no fixed meaning. That's what gives it its power (like "terrorism")." Insty, WRAY CLAIMS NO FBI CENSORSHIP AS GOPERS PRODUCE SUPPRESSED POSTS: "FBI Director Christopher Wray tangled with a bunch of Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee today.  FBI assaults on the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans was just one of a bunch of issues on which Wray repeatedly hid behind the “ongoing investigation” and “continuing litigation” evasions."

And some miscellaneous points. At Twitchy, 'Yikes'! Katie Pavlich catches the FBI Director making quite an (unconstitutional?) admissionKatie Pavlich@KatiePavlich "The FBI director just revealed bank information is turned over to the Bureau "all of the time" without a warrant and won't say if the FBI is purchasing location data of Americans from commercial sources. Yikes." Hat Hair's Capt. Ed, Jordan's brutal beatdown of Wray: What defines a rad-trad Catholic, and why would the FBI care? At the Victory Girls, Wray: FBI Shouldn’t Have Investigated Parents. Jonathan Turley@JonathanTurley, "Wray just said that he does not contest the statement that "the Justice Department's own documents demonstrated that there was no compelling nationwide law enforcement justification for the Attorney General's directive" to investigate parents over school board meetings." Nick Ballasy at JTN, Wray says he wouldn't classify Mar-a-Lago search a raid. "I would call it the execution of a lawful search warrant," At WaEx, Ashli Babbitt’s mother attends FBI Director Wray's testimony at oversight hearingHer and her group of friends are wearing shirts that read “Ashli Babbitt murdered by Capitol Police.”

A bit late, but Margot Cleveland at Da Fed Here’s What The House Judiciary Committee Should Ask FBI Director Wray

Cutie Pavlich at Town Hall has a New Plan Released to Scrap the FBI and 'Start From Scratch'. I'm OK with that.

NYT (cited at Hat Hair) is pretty happy that Ray Epps sues Fox News, Tucker Carlson for defamation. Capt. Ed, "This should be interesting to watch. Reportedly, the reason Fox took Tucker off the air was to stop his response to Epps after the 60 Minutes interview in which he accused Fox of defaming him. One interesting tidbit from the lawsuit: Epps claims that the DoJ informed him in May that he will get charged for his actions in the J6 riot. If true, that would undermine one of the reasons why people suspected him of being an informant or FBI plant. Discovery will be interesting in both directions." But maybe he'd be willing to take a hit for the "team" especially if they could work out good terms ahead of time, like Hunter. Kevin Downy at PJM, Ray Epps Is Preparing to Sue Fox News—for What? Showing clips of him egging on the crowd at J6, and making the obvious inference from the fact that the FBI dropped him from their list of suspects shortly after they put it up? Seems to me a news organization should get a lot of deference, especially when it's actually news. PM, Ray Epps' lawsuit against Fox News reveals he's being criminally charged by DOJ, 2.5 years after Jan 6 riot, and he blames Fox? Sundance at CTH goes Inside Ray Epps Lawsuit Against Fox News, Plaintiff Contends DOJ Notified Him in May They Would “Seek to Charge Him Criminally” "since when does the DOJ inform a suspect in advance they are seeking to charge him?  Second, timing.  It is now mid-July; where’s the indictment?  Third, the wording is suspicious – the DOJ would “seek to charge him criminally.”   Meaning, the Dept of Justice told Epps they were going to make efforts to arrest him?" I guess they're not planning a guns-drawn raid at his Arizona ranch to arrest him, like they have with so many other J6 defendants? 

That'll have to do for now, maybe more later?

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