Dem Lawmaker Asks FBI Director If Agency Has Enough Funding To Investigate Trump Shooting

3 months ago

At a House Judiciary Committee hearing held last week, Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) questioned FBI Director Chris Wray about FBI funding.

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Transcript

00:00The gentleman from Colorado is recognized for five minutes.

00:05Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:06Thank you, Director Wray, for being here, for your testimony today, for the work that

00:10you do each and every day, and that your frontline agents across the country do each and every

00:14day to protect Americans, to keep our country safe.

00:18Also grateful for the work that you're doing in investigating the horrific events of July

00:2213th and the attempted assassination of former President Trump, which everyone must and has

00:29condemned.

00:31I would first just ask, do you believe that the FBI has the adequate resources to ultimately

00:39ensure that your agency gets to the bottom of it and fully investigates this terrible

00:44crime?

00:45Well, we are devoting massive amounts of resources to this specific investigation.

00:53We have easily several hundred FBI agents, analysts, and professional staff working on

01:01it.

01:02It involves over half of the FBI's 56 field offices, almost every headquarters division.

01:08We even have some of our overseas offices working on it.

01:13You might say, well, why is that?

01:14Well, because some of the companies that involve accounts or purchases or communications or

01:21what have you that the shooter used are foreign companies, so we have to get evidence from

01:26overseas from those companies.

01:29I've talked about our lab a little bit earlier today.

01:32We've got our office of technology division working on the digital devices.

01:36We have our behavioral analysis unit, our BAU, working on helping us build out a profile

01:41of the shooter.

01:42I could go on and on and on.

01:43So it's all hands on deck on this case, as I think is appropriate.

01:46Now when you ask about our resources, I've been public about the fact that the fiscal

01:52year 24 budget put us $500 million below where we needed to be to sustain current operations.

01:59And on FY 25, the current house mark would put us significantly further back behind that

02:08and would result in significant risks across every program and our support to state and

02:13local law enforcement.

02:16If we arrested something like 50 violent criminals per day, every day, last year, the current

02:22mark would mean more violent criminals on the street, more neighborhoods at risk.

02:27We have about a 1300% increase in our investigations related to China and its targeting of us.

02:33And I can assure you China is not cutting its budget.

02:36This would mean more threats from China.

02:39We have something like 300 to 400 investigations just into cartel leadership and about hardly

02:46a week goes by when some FBI field office isn't seizing enough fentanyl to wipe out

02:51an entire state.

02:53That mark, those cuts means more fentanyl on the street, more people dying.

02:59So the people who suffer the most are state and local law enforcement and the American

03:04people we're sworn to protect.

03:06And so I look forward to working with Congress, but we really need to be smart about what

03:11we're doing.

03:12And I think that would be a step in the wrong direction given the threat environment that

03:14we face.

03:15And I couldn't agree with you more, Director Wray.

03:17And of course, we've talked about this during previous hearings in which you've testified.

03:22And to be clear that I think the budget that House Republicans have proposed, which is

03:26about a $325 million cut to the FBI would do precisely what you've described and have

03:32deleterious impacts for public safety across our country.

03:36And House Democrats are certainly working to prevent those cuts from taking place.

03:41You've talked at great length about the events of July 13.

03:44There's justifiably a lot of public interest in the investigation, which we understand

03:49is ongoing.

03:50I wonder if you might, if there's anything that you'd like to disclose or provide to

03:55the committee or to the public that perhaps has not yet been gleaned during the course

04:00of this hearing.

04:01That would be an opportunity because there's a lot of folks related to the investigation.

04:05One thing I can give an update on, which is pretty fresh here, we had some conversations

04:12with some of the members about the access to the roof and the ladder and so forth.

04:18And our evidence response teams and their forensic collection, we now believe that the

04:24subject climbed onto the roof using some mechanical equipment on the ground and vertical

04:31piping on the side of the AGR building.

04:36In other words, we do not believe he used a ladder to get up there.

04:42One question, if the chairman might indulge me with just a few extra seconds.

04:46There's an article recently regarding several former Trump administration national security

04:51officials who had received a duty to warn briefing from the FBI regarding the potential

04:57threat from Iran.

04:59And I think there is this article made clear, deep concern.

05:04These individuals have justifiably so about the threat level, particularly given the events

05:09of the last several months and the need for there to be an increased security posture

05:14and security personnel for former officials who may very well still be at risk.

05:21And I don't know if you're familiar with that article.

05:22I'm trying not to use names here, but I think would perhaps follow up with your agency and

05:27with the Department of Justice more broadly to ensure that any individuals who are potentially

05:33facing a threat from Iran or another hostile actor in a foreign nation have the resources

05:38they need to have the security available to them.

05:42So again, without reference to any specific individual, I want to be very clear about

05:47this because I've tried to be vocal on this, but it sometimes doesn't get noticed as much,

05:55which is that in my view, the Iranian government has been extremely aggressive and brazen.

06:01We have seen in the last few years an attempt, I'm speaking just from public information

06:06now, an attempt to assassinate a former U.S. national security advisor on U.S. soil.

06:13We have seen an attempt first to kidnap and then to try to murder an American dissident

06:21slash journalist who was a critic of the Iranian regime right smack in the middle in New York City.

06:27We have seen a cyber attack against a children's hospital in New England that ties back to Iran.

06:36We have seen, as I've testified before, as Director Ratcliffe and I announced, an effort

06:41by the Iranians to target the 2020 presidential election.

06:47And that's all before you even get to the fact that the Iranian government is the leading

06:50state sponsor of terrorism.

06:52So if that's not enough to convince people that Iran is a threat, I don't know what is.

06:57But Director, was there a distinction between what the gentleman from Colorado raised and

07:01what you just said, this general concern in these specific incidents you talk about and

07:06a direct specific threat on President Trump that's distinct from what you've been describing

07:12as this general concern with Iran?

07:14Well, again, I can't get into specific pieces of class.

07:17And if so, when, if it was a distinct threat on President Trump, when did that when did

07:22that take place?

07:23Yeah, I all I can tell you, certainly in this kind of setting is targeting of U.S. officials

07:34for the Soleimani strike is something that is a reality that the Iranian government has

07:41at times called for very publicly.

07:44And there whenever there is reporting, let me try to answer your question this way.

07:48Whenever there is reporting about any of those protectees, we share the information in a

07:55variety of ways, working with the intelligence community, working with whoever is the protective

08:01service with responsibility for that individual, and we do it in a timely way, using the duty

08:06to warn process that was just referred to.

08:09And to my knowledge, everything along those lines, that's relevant was shared in a timely

08:15way with the relevant people.

Dem Lawmaker Asks FBI Director If Agency Has Enough Funding To Investigate Trump Shooting

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