(Washington) The Director of the American Federal Police (FBI) suffered Wednesday, during a hearing in Congress, a deluge of criticism from elected Republicans who accuse his forces of working against conservative voices.
During a face-to-face meeting that lasted nearly six hours, Christopher Wray had to defend his services, which have become the favorite target of Republicans since the presidency of Donald Trump, and all the more since the opening of multiple investigations. federal on the former president.
Republican elected officials have, for example, accused the FBI of having sent undercover agents to incite supporters of Donald Trump to attack the Capitol on January 6, 2021, but also of having “censored” conservative points of view on social networks.
Mike Johnson, elected from Louisiana, thus criticized the federal police for having gone too far in their efforts to enjoin social networks to combat misinformation about the 2020 elections and vaccines against COVID-19.
“The FBI forced social media to remove this information from the internet if it came from conservative sources,” Johnson said.
Mr. Wray has “personally worked to make the FBI a weapon against conservatives,” added Wyoming Republican elected official Harriet Hageman.
Such an accusation is “delusional for me, given my background,” replied Christopher Wray, himself a Republican voter and appointed to his post by Donald Trump in 2017.
The 56-year-old lawyer also called absurd the allegation that the federal police orchestrated the attack on January 6, 2021.
“We are not asking social networks to censor information or remove information,” he also defended himself. His agency only contacts these companies if it spots actions from accounts linked to foreign intelligence services, he said.
“The men and women of the FBI work tirelessly every day to protect Americans from a dizzying array of threats,” from Chinese espionage to the dangers of fentanyl, continued Christopher Wray.
The American federal police arrested more than 20,000 criminals and pedocriminals last year, he also pointed out.
The flood of criticism from elected Republicans is seen by many pundits as an attempt by the opposition to undermine Joe Biden and the Democratic Party ahead of the November 2024 election.