‘Just a Minute!’ FBI Director Wray Pushes Back As Hawley Tears Into Him With Allegations of Targeting Catholics

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) demanded to know why FBI Director Christopher Wray still hasn’t fired anyone for “targeting Catholics” as part of the FBI’s effort to root out domestic terrorists.

“You said, and I’m quoting now, ‘The FBI uses all tools available at its disposal to combat domestic terrorism,’ which now includes, apparently, the crime of being Catholic,” Hawley said during an FBI Oversight Committee hearing Tuesday. “Let’s talk a little bit about the FBI’s egregious targeting of Catholic Americans.”

Hawley said he had whistleblower information that accused the FBI of recruiting priests and choir directors to inform on fellow parishioners.

“How many other parishes around the country had priests or choir directors been approached — by the way, are Catholic choirs now, are they breeding grounds for domestic terrorism? Is this your latest theory?”

WRAY: Look, Senator, we do not, and will not, conduct investigations based on anyone’s exercise of their constitutionally protected —

HAWLEY: You have done so, and your memo explicitly asks for it! Your memo labels “traditional Catholics” as racially and ethically-motivated violent extremists in need of investigation. You have a list of churches! A list. In the memo! You’ve repeatedly said, “We don’t target churches, we don’t list churches.” They’re listed in the memo! So, how many other parishes have you gone to to talk to choir directors, for heaven’s sake? Do you know the answer to that question?

WRAY: No, I don’t know the answer to that question. But I can tell you that we don’t investigate people for their exercise of their constitutionally protected religious expression. That particular intelligence product, as soon as I saw it, I was aghast, I had it withdrawn —

HAWLEY: Really? You were aghast?

WRAY: I was!

HAWLEY: And what have you done about it? Did you fire the people that wrote it?

WRAY: No —

HAWLEY: Have you fired anybody involved in it?

WRAY: Senator, if you would give me a chance to answer —

HAWLEY: That’s a yes or a no, it’s not hard! Have you fired anybody involved in the writing of that outrageous memo? Because, frankly, you’ve repeatedly misled the public. Yes or no?

WRAY: The individuals involved in that product —

HAWLEY: Have you fired anyone?

WRAY: Just a minute! — Were not found to have engaged in any intentional or bad faith conduct, and in fact —

HAWLEY: Really?

WRAY: In fact, Senator, a number of the individuals involved —

HAWLEY: So your answer’s no?

WRAY: A number of the individuals involved in writing that product in the Richmond office were themselves Catholic! So, the notion that they were targeting their own faith —

HAWLEY: Oh, I see! Oh! So it’s a “get out of jail free card!” I see! So, you’re immune and they’re immune! So, we shouldn’t ask questions about it. You haven’t done a darn thing. You haven’t fired anybody!

Watch the clip above via C-SPAN.