FBI Director Casts Doubt Over Trump Being Hit By A Bullet During House Testimony | US News LIVE

one final question um the government is not doing their job do you feel as the Director that perhaps like not only the FBI but the Secret Service needs to have a complete reconstruction do you think it's still put together the way that could best do its job the FBI that I see every single day having visited all 56 of our field offices at least twice many of them three times the FBI that I see engaging with State local law enforcement from all 50 states that I hear about from prosecutors judges Business Leaders Community leaders foreign Partners is an FBI that is respected trusted appreciated and that is there for people when they need them the most that is the FBI that I see and I'm very proud to be a part of them any comment on um the other agencies uh I'm not going to comment on other agencies appreciate your time sir yield back to the chair gentlemen yields back uh director I have just a couple quick questions but I want to give uh to the ranking member a chance to say some remarks or questions and then we'll then we'll be done thank you Mr chair first I'd like to say as somebody when I grew up I watched The Untouchables and I think Elliott Nest would be proud of you I don't know about edger Hoover but Elliott n for sure uh let me ask you this in Memphis you you you've put Memphis and Nashville's FBI together kind of Consolidated and in one office and we have I know you've worked with our us attorney and others to work on the our crime situation there and it's gotten better uh but it's this change in the FBI relationship there we're not going to have an office necess tell me tell me how that's going to affect Memphis so uh I want to be very clear we're not leaving we're not leaving Memphis uh we what we are doing is nobody should leave Memphis in fact most of the songs are about people going to Memphis we are leave Nashville they go to Memphis recognizing population growth and the threat environment we have instead uh taken if you look across the state instead of having two field offices in Knoxville and Memphis we're creating a Tennessee division headquartered in the middle in Nashville but we are keeping we are keeping the offices in Knoxville and Memphis uh and in fact when it comes to Memphis specifically not only will it not result in any decrease in the number of Agents there to work actually strange as it might sound it's going to allow us to increase the number of agents who will be assigned to the Memphis office uh including to tackle things like violent crime which I know is of huge concern uh and the reason for that is really the effect of this reorganization is to be able to reduce administrative roles that will be more Consolidated in the middle in Nashville but it allow us to increase the operational roles the agent roles uh the number of them in Memphis so I think not only are we not leaving Memphis we're actually increasing our invest tigated presence in Memphis as part of this and we're going to be able to continue to collaborate closely with our great Partners there um without skipping a beat thank you that's reassuring one of the questions was asked over here was about uh previous assassination attempts on presidents and obviously I I know you're a lot younger than me but you probably did did you ever watch The Untouchables I I have watched they had a one of the programs was on mayor CAC you don't know mayor surmac I'm sorry I couldn't hear you mayor CAC do you know who he was I do not he was the mayor of Chicago and in February of 1933 there was an assassination attempt on Franklin Roosevelt in Miami Florida and mayor SAR s CAC cmak was killed uh and said I'm glad it was me and not you allegedly he said that but anyway that was an attempt and it failed and that was Intouchables brought it into my Consciousness but thank you for your work I appreciate it very much and uh and I appreciate you're not looking into changing our Democratic nominee that's something we normally do thank you director um I'm I'm still not clear in my mind when did the counter snipers um the good guys when did they first get eyes on the bad guy the the would be assassin um on the on the on the roof of the AGR building uh I'm not certain but I'll I'll take my best effort here I guess I'm if I'm starting to R but yeah did they have eyes on him before the local law enforcement was looking up on the roof and engaged with the the bad guy shooter I don't know the answer to that I will look into that and get back to you I believe we have the answer I just don't know that I have it I want to make sure I answer accurate because we thought from the briefings that uh Mr uh abot Abbot gave us or baate gave excuse me aate gave us um and the briefings you gave the Congress that they did but I I I it wasn't clear from Testament if you can get that answer to us that that would be helpful I want to Circle back just a third time if I could to the Iranian uh uh threat to president Trump and and some others former members of our government um the reason I want to go back to that because we now know that the Secret Service and and Homeland Security denied resources to president Trump's detail that they had asked for and it seems to me if that all happened after you guys knew about the Iran threat and had briefed the Secret Service on on that real threat that's an even bigger problem and that's why I was trying to get that timeline down when you knew about it and when you brief the Secret Service on the Iranians threat to kill President Trump so again I really want to be careful to uh both be accurate but also not to kind of stray into any kind of classified information or confirm the existence of classified information um so let let me see if there's a way for us to get back to you on that question I understand why you're asking it may be easier to answer than I think but at the moment in an open hearing I'm not sure if I can see the right way to do that fair enough we we'll we'll expect answers to both of those questions and you get get back with this that that'd be great finally anything else you want to tell us that that we didn't ask you you came today and you told us some things that weren't even prompted by questions and I just want to make sure if there's anything else you want to tell us um regarding July 13th and what you've discovered you know Now's the Time well again we're going to continue to engage with the Congress um I think we've covered a lot of the the points that I really wanted to make sure um that uh I got across and just as I'm looking at my list uh in one way or another through the course of today's questioning I think we've gotten through most of it that concludes today's hearing we thank our witness for appearing before the committee today without objection all members will have five legislative days to submit additional written questions for the witness or additional materials for the record without objection the hearing is adjourned wow lamp from the and private really beautiful Heritage fees from jur there are only five in the world menra H just like everything else handpicked by masaba I think election quote it's going to take a civil war to save the country and it will be saved the president of the Heritage Foundation taxpayer dollars addressing even one aspect of the political violence that now threatens our country perhaps at this Republican majority lifted a finger to help a nation that is a washing guns the Assassin and Butler would not have had such easy access to the weapon he used to fire on that crowd director Ray your agency is responsible for addressing some of the most serious issues of our time the bureau fights gun violence which claims the lives of 40,000 Americans every year it protects election security from growing threats for mign foreign actors who are working tirelessly to influence our elections it protects against domestic terrorists and violent extremists who have been a growing threat in recent years and have carried out horrific mass shootings and deadly events around the country and so so much more I apologize to you director that instead of supporting you in these missions in the 118th Congress some of my colleagues have instead hindered your work maligned your agents and called to abolish and and defund your agency all for political gain is desperate able especially from the party that claims to quote back the blue and I know that you and your many agents and employees have paid the price for these baseless attacks I know you have faced a barrage of threats distrust and vitriol from the public as a result of these wild politically driven conspiracies I know it has become even more dangerous and difficult for you to come to work each day I may not agree with you on everything but I sincerely thank you and every employee in your agency who continues to protect our country the FBI is vital to keeping America safe and I pray that today we can focus on the real substantive work of the agency it is the least we owe our country in these times I yield back gentleman yields back without objection all other opening statements will be included in the record we will now introduce today's witness um The Honorable Christopher Ray has been the director of the FBI since 2017 he previously served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice the principal associate deputy attorney general an Associated Deputy attorney general and as assistant us attorney for the Northern District of Georgia again director way you've been here many times we appreciate you being here today and uh look forward to your testimony and answering our questions we will Begin by swearing you in would you please rise and raise your right hand do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you're about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge information and belief so help you God let the record affirm uh let the record reflect ref that the witness has answered in the affirmative uh thank you and please be seated we we have votes coming in about 10 minutes but we we definitely want to get through your opening statement as far as we can and this is going to be an interesting day on Capitol Hill with the prime minister of Israel here as well so director Ray you're recognized for your opening statement good morning chairman Jordan ranking member Nadler members of the committee uh I want to begin by offering my condolences on the passing representative Jackson Lee who served the people of Texas in this body and on this committee for so long thank you all for your support of our efforts to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution I am proud to be here today representing the 388,000 special agents intelligence analysts and professional staff who make up the FBI men and women who every day work relentlessly to counter the most complex threat environment I've seen seen in my tenure as FBI director maybe in my entire career in law enforcement before I go any further I also want to acknowledge and offer my deepest condolences to the victims of the horrific assassination attempt in Butler County to the friends and family of Corey comparator who by all accounts lost his life protecting others from danger to the other victims two of whom were critically wounded wounded and of course of course to president Trump former president Trump and his family as I've said from the beginning the attempted assassination of the former president was an attack on our democracy and our Democratic process and we will not and do not tolerate political violence of any kind especially a Despicable account of this magnitude and I want to assure you and the American people that the men and women of the FBI will continue to work tirelessly to get to the bottom of what happened we are bringing all the resources of the FBI to Bear both criminal and National Security now there's a a whole lot of work underway and still a lot of work to do and our understanding of what happened and why will continue to evolve but we're going to leave no stone unturned the shooter may be deceased but the FBI's investigation is very much ongoing to that point I also want to acknowledge that I recognize both the Congressional and the public interest in this case and the importance of this investigation to the American people and I understand there are a lot of open questions so while the investigation is very much ongoing and our assessments of the shooter and his actions continue to evolve My Hope here today is to do my best to provide you with all the information I can given where we are at this point I have been saying for some time now that we are living in an elevated threat environment and tragically the Butler County assassination attempt is another example a particularly heinous and very public one of what I've been talking about but it also reinforces our need at the FBI and our ongoing commitment to stay focused on the threats on the mission and on the people we do the work with and the people we do the work for every day all across this country and indeed around the world the men and women of the FBI are doing just that working around the clock to counter the threats we face just in the last year for example in California the FBI and our partners targeted an organized crime syndicate responsible for trafficking fentanyl meth and cocaine all across North America we charged the mexican-based suppliers who brought the drugs into the United States a network of canada-based truck drivers who delivered the drugs and the distributors in the United States who spread the poison into our communities staying on threats emanating from the border I have warned for some time now about the threat that foreign terrorists May seek to exploit our Southwest border or some other Port of Entry to advance a plot against Americans just last month for instance the bureau and our joint terrorism task forces worked with ice in multiple cities across the country as several individuals with suspected International terrorist ties were arrested using Isis immigration authorities leading up to those arrests hundreds of FBI employees dedicated countless hours to understand the threat and identify additional individuals of concern now the physical security of the border is of course not in the FBI's Lane but as the threat has escalated we're working with our partners in law enforcement and the intelligence Community to find and stop foreign terrorists who would harm Americans and our interests as concerning as the known or suspected terrorists encountered at the border are perhaps even more concerning are those we do not yet know about because they provided fake documents or because we didn't have information connecting them to terrorism at the time they arrived in the United States staying ahead of today's threats demands that we work together and for the FBI that means doubling down on our Partnerships especially with state and local law enforcement whether it's working through our hundreds of joint Terr and task forces uh to build Out Source networks to identify those who slip through the cracks or targeting the worst of the worst responsible for the violence that still plagues far too many communities through our Safe Streets task forces or taking the fight to the cartels responsible for trafficking the dangerous drugs like fenel pouring into our country and claiming countless American lives staying ahead of the threat also means continuing to disrupt the cyber criminals ravaging businesses large and small and confronting nation states like China targeting our Innovation and our critical infrastructure at the bureau we're proud to work side by side with our brothers and sisters in federal state and local law enforcement our partners in the intelligence community and others around the world to fulfill our commitment to keep Americans safe now on Friday the FBI will celebrate its 116th anniversary 116 years of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution 116 years of working with our partners to safeguard the communities we serve 116 years of innovating to stay ahead of the complex evolving and very real threats out there I am proud of the Legacy the men women of the FBI have have built and all they have accomplished for the American people so if I may as we approach this week's anniversary I would just like to say to all those who are part of the FBI family from our current employees to our forers and to our partners across law enforcement and the intelligence Community thank you thank you for dedicating your lives to this country and to its people it is both humbling and honor to serve alongside you and I look forward to the work we're going to continue to do together and with that thank you again for having me and I look forward to our discussion thank you director Ray excuse me we'll now proceed under the five- minute rule the gentleman from um North Carolina is recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chairman uh director Ray I'm way down here I appreciate the chairman giving me this because I've got to uh leave but let me ask this question why doesn't the FBI disclose to the American people all of the investigative detail and evidence that you are gathering as it is gathered well we have tried to be transparent uh with both Congress and the American people as we're going along in the investigation frankly unusually so for an ongoing investigation given the sheer nature uh of it uh we have provided a lot of information I expect to continue to provide information I expect to be able to provide some additional information here today uh in response to your questions and your colleages colleagues uh but part of the issue uh is that as like in any investigation as we proceed facts evolve our understanding of what somebody said turns out to have more context that we didn't have before uh we have additional leads out there so part of our goal is not just to respect the ongoing investigation process but also to make sure that we don't prematurely provide information that then two days later turns out to be different than what we told people because that's very much you know kind of a natural part of any investigation so did Crooks Fire eight shots we have recovered uh eight cartridges on the roof why was Crooks allowed to get off eight shots well that I think is something we're still digging into um again maybe this is a good place for me to make clear uh the different investigations that are going on so because certainly I understand I and I given that I've only got 3 minutes left and I know other members I'm I'm really interested because I I appreciate your invitation you said you're prepared to disclose things as questions are asked so I don't want to waste time sort of I just want to get to the questions that might and as many members as can ask questions that you'll answer I actually think you I'd be glad for you to go on Soliloquy frankly and and tell us what you know I think the American people want to know why was President Trump not kept off the stage we don't know the answer to that but I want to be clear and this is important because I think it goes to questions that I can and cannot answer our investigation the FBI's mandate is focused on the shooter and all things related to his attack now obviously I understand very much the intense interest and focus on the secret Services performance actions decisionmaking Etc there are two separate after Action reviews the the DHS Inspector General and the outside independent panel that's been convenient are f Fus on that now our understands everybody understands corre here's the problem we're out 13 days and you say we've been disclosing you know we had the director of the colonel from the PS Pennsylvania State Police in front of Homeland yesterday he was quite candid he disclosed to us that Butler Emergency Services Unit Personnel were posted into the windows on the second floor of the AGR building that they left there to go pursue the person that they spotted Crooks that they texted a photo of crooks to the PE to the uh uh PSP representative in the command center that information was relayed to the United States Secret Service they asked that it be texted to someone else that was many minutes before president took Trump took the stand what we don't know is why did he not why did he why were they not keeping him off the stand and to the extent you know I know we always hear when there's a criminal investigation you got to wait for that to develop but the do you have any reason to are you do you have any other Target of your criminal investigation other than crooks who's dead we are investigating the shooter both to determine his motive uh and his preparations and activities before the shooting but also to make sure uh whether or not there are any co-conspirators accomplices at this point Have You developed any evidence to so suggest that there are any ACC complies or or Cooperators or sisters not at this time but again the investigation's ongoing so here's the thing while we wait maybe for months and I hate to say this just I'm not trying to take a pot shot but we the country went for years with the under understanding that the hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation as offered by respected former Intel officials and the whole time the FBI had the laptop and then let that happen in public until finally offering testimony in a case to the degree we wait to here as a country and as a congress what has happened in this event because the FBI is Con conducting an investigation it provides quarter for the US Secret Service not perhaps to reckon with the problems that are obvious to everyone so just get a couple in while I I've got 13 more seconds one more question perhaps uh Senator Grassley says that the records of the day show that there was a counter unmanned aerial surveillance operator on site was there and why did that person not prevent Crooks from being able to use a drone so again questions about the secret Services performance are better directed to those other reviews what I can tell you when it comes to drones is that Kooks himself had a drone and I'm prepared to answer questions here today about the shooter and his use of the Drone for example my time's expired gentleman yields back to ranking members recognize for five minutes thank you Mr chairman as I said in my opening statement political violence is a scorge and entirely unacceptable no matter the source or the target last October far right conspiracy theorist broke into Nancy Pelosi's home in leg and her husband prominent Republicans mocked the attack and promoted conspiracy theories about it last August an armed Utah man who threatened to kill President Biden was killed as FBI agents attempted to serve a warrant on him hours before President Biden landed in his State some on the right claimed that the man was simply a quote Second Amendment Enthusiast in recent weeks and months those on the right have repeatedly called for quote civil war with an Ohio state senator saying that Republicans lose the quote it's going to take a civil war to save the country and it will be saved the president of the Heritage Foundation likewise said that quote we are in the process of the second American Revolution which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be close quote director R it's obviously important that we respect First Amendment protections but there is clearly a point to which some violent rhetoric crosses over into threats of violence or leads actual violence could you describe how the FBI looks at this relationship between rhetoric and action what you are seeing around the country so I appreciate the question and this is an issue that I've been talking about for some time uh you know in our view there is a right way and a wrong way under the First Amendment to express your views no matter how passionate or even angry you are and violence and threats of violence is not the right way and we don't care what you're upset about or who you're upset with when from the FBI's perspective when it turns to violence and threats of violence that's when we have to draw the line that's when we get engaged uh and there is an alarming phenomenon that we've seen over the last several years uh of that kind of passion and heated rhetoric turning into actual violence and threats of violence we've seen it uh against public officials of All Sorts we've seen it against law enforcement the number of officers shot and killed in the line of duty in this country is frankly outrageous and alarming uh and I know that because every time an officer is shot and killed anywhere in this country since the day I started as FBI director I personally call the chief or the sheriff to express my condolences uh and to talk to them about the the victim's family uh and the number of those shootings that are Ambush related meaning somebody is targeting law law enforcement because they law enforcement is particularly alarming I have made around 400 of those phone calls it's almost every five days that a law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty and that is an example of the kind of ways in which uh passions and heated rhetoric can bubble over into violence thank you members of Congress their families and their staffs have witnessed an alarming Rising threats against them I appreciate the work your agency has done to investigate and address these threats but I'm concerned that we do not seem to be steming the tide what is the FBI doing to ensure that members of Congress their families and their staffs are safe so we have a very close relationship uh with the Capitol Police um and we have members of the Capitol Police for example who are on some of our task forces we share intelligence information uh about things that we're seeing trends that we're seeing with Capitol Police