FBI Director Wray faces his turn in hot seat over Trump shooting

[July 24, 2024]  By David Morgan
 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI Director Christopher Wray will face questions from Congress on Wednesday over the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, but seems likely to escape the withering bipartisan criticism that preceded Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle's resignation.  

FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing on President Biden?s proposed budget request for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 4, 2024. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo

Wray is due to appear before the House Judiciary Committee at 10 a.m. (1400 GMT) to answer questions about the FBI's investigation of suspected shooter, 20-year-old nursing home aide Thomas Crooks, who got close enough to a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, to wound the Republican presidential candidate.

Trump was shot in the ear, one rally attendee was killed and another wounded. Crooks was killed by law enforcement. The motive for the shooting remains unclear.

Cheatle resigned on Tuesday in the face of bipartisan demands to quit for the agency's failure to prevent the attempted assassination.

But while Wray is likely to hear demands for details of the incident on Wednesday, the shooting probe could be overshadowed by partisan divisions within the committee.

The FBI director has long faced opposition from hardline Republicans, some angered over the arrest of Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress certified President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.

"I would like to hear the truth. But I doubt it that's what we will hear," said Republican Representative Harriet Hageman, a Judiciary Committee member who said she would like to see Wray resign as FBI chief.

"They have circled the wagons and they're going to try to prevent us from getting the information that we need," she said.

Judiciary Committee Democrats predicted that the hearing was unlikely to be productive.

"I'm expecting him to talk about how he's doing his best to keep our country safe. But as you know, it's the Judiciary Committee, so we will have all sorts of sparks fly," Democratic Representative Deborah Ross said. "It's never a productive exercise in Judiciary. It's always a 'gotcha' game."

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell)

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