During a House Judiciary Committee hearing last week, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) called out her Republican colleagues for failing to unequivocally denounce the January 6th Insurrection.
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NewsTranscript
00:00The lady from Washington is recognized.
00:02Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:03Welcome, Director Wray.
00:05Political violence of any kind is dangerous, unlawful, and totally unacceptable.
00:10Just as we all watched and then unequivocally condemned the attempted assassination attempt
00:16on our former president, I wish that we could all come together to unequivocally condemn
00:22the act of political violence on January 6th instead of defending props that were used
00:28that were harmful, dangerous props of gallows attempting to show what people wanted to do
00:35to Vice President Pence.
00:38Extremists attempted to subvert our democracy in the worst assault on the U.S. Capitol since
00:42the War of 1812.
00:44Many of us were trapped in the gallery that day.
00:47We feared we would not make it out.
00:50Insurrectionists were chasing down former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then Vice President
00:54Mike Pence.
00:56And I myself have been the direct target of political violence when an armed man with
01:00a gun showed up at my door, threatened me and my family, and we actually ended up having
01:06to move our home.
01:07So I understand the increased tenor of political violence that is wracking our country.
01:15It has been on the rise, fomented by violent and dehumanizing rhetoric from top public
01:21officials, including the former president and members of Congress, sadly, and bolstered
01:26by the proliferation of easily accessible guns, including assault-style weapons.
01:33All of this violence is unacceptable and I wholeheartedly condemn it.
01:37I just hope we condemn all of the violence, not just one or two incidents.
01:43Mr. Wray, today I want to focus on the role of the FBI and the need for the Bureau to
01:47remain politically neutral and independent.
01:51The FBI cannot and should not be subject to the whims of any president.
01:56The majority apparently doesn't think that the FBI needs to be politically neutral and
02:00independent.
02:01They want an FBI subordinate to the president, not accountable to the American people.
02:06That is one part of a larger plan to undermine our democracy, to remove the checks and balances
02:12that have protected us, and ultimately to subvert our freedoms.
02:16That agenda, promulgated by the former president, his loyalists, and their MAGA allies, is called
02:23Project 2025.
02:25It is publicly available online.
02:28I encourage everyone who's watching this to Google it.
02:31It includes plans to undermine every part of our government, including the FBI.
02:37Trump's Project 2025 agenda says that the director of the FBI must not be independent
02:43of politics, but instead must do whatever the president orders.
02:48Under Trump's Project 2025, Trump loyalists would undermine the nonpolitical and independent
02:54structure of the FBI.
02:56Project 2025 openly calls on the next conservative administration to support, quote, a vast expansion
03:03of the number of political appointees in every office across the DOJ, especially the FBI.
03:10And so, Mr. Wray, given your extensive experience as a law enforcement professional at DOJ,
03:16across multiple Republican and Democratic administrations, why do you think it's important
03:21that the FBI maintain political independence from the president?
03:27I think the FBI is and needs to stay independent.
03:31And that means protecting American people without fear or favor, upholding the Constitution
03:36and the rule of law.
03:37And it means following the facts wherever they lead, no matter who likes it.
03:41And I add that last part because the essence of independence and objectivity is not that
03:48an investigation is going to always yield the result you want.
03:53Our independence and objectivity can't only be respected when you like the outcome.
03:58That's the very essence of objectivity.
04:00Sometimes you're going to like the result.
04:02Sometimes you're not going to like the result.
04:03That applies to everyone, including us.
04:06Any number of times we're disappointed and frustrated by the results of our investigations.
04:10But the alternative is an erosion of the rule of law, where the only thing that distinguishes
04:18one investigation from another is power.
04:20And that's what you see in some authoritarian countries around the world.
04:23So I'm not familiar with this particular Project 25 thing.
04:29I don't know anything about it.
04:30What I can tell you is, from my perspective, the FBI needs to be functioning as independent.
04:36It doesn't mean it's not part of the executive branch.
04:38It doesn't mean the FBI director doesn't serve at the pleasure of the president.
04:41But it does mean that the way we do our work has to be independent.
04:46I have another question about the role of attorneys at the FBI Office of General Counsel.
04:51How do we protect that work?
04:53I'm sorry, could you repeat the question?
04:57What role do the attorneys at the FBI Office of General Counsel play in ensuring that the
05:01Bureau respects the constitutional rights of American citizens?
05:04How do we protect that work?
05:06So in my experience, the lawyers in the Office of General Counsel play an incredibly important
05:14role in ensuring that our agents have their questions about how to comply with the law
05:20in conducting their work answered, and ensuring that we conduct our work in the right way,
05:26which means scrupulously adhering to the laws and the rules that apply to us.
05:31I just wanted to say, before I yield, Mr. Chairman, that the Project 2025 also eliminates
05:36the FBI's Office of General Counsel in-house lawyers who are responsible for that role.
05:41I appreciate your indulgence, and I yield back.