FBI Director Christopher Wray defended the bureau against allegations of political bias during a Fox News interview Tuesday night, claiming that it is “independent” and on “the American people’s side.”
“I hear these claims of politicization, but I can tell you that the FBI is and is going to stay independent,” Wray said. “And that means following the facts wherever they lead, no matter who likes it. And I add that last part because what I have found in today’s world is that far too many people use as their standard for whether they think something was fair or objective, whether it’s an FBI investigation, whether it’s a Supreme Court decision, or even an election, is whether they liked the result, whether their side won or lost.”
“But that’s not how independence and objectivity work. We are not on either side,” Wray continued. “The FBI is on the American people’s side, on the Constitution’s side.”
Fox News anchor Bret Baier then brought up examples of things that the public sees that cause distrust of the FBI.
“Mark Houck, Pennsylvania pro-life activist arrested at his home in front of his family for an alleged violation of the Freedom of Access of Clinics Act, alleged incident in which he was protesting in front of an abortion clinic. He was recently acquitted of all charges at trial,” Baier said. “The show of force for that arrest, that decision to use that force, was that by the book?”
Wray responded, “Those decisions are made, as they should be, by the commanders on the ground in the field office who have the expertise about when to conduct operations safely and securely for the safety of everybody involved.”
“I mean, historically, FBI protocol is that a defendant has — if he has no criminal history, is not believed to be violent or pose a threat to public safety, that he or she is permitted to self-surrender, rather than subject dynamic execution of an arrest warrant,” Baier countered. “Here’s what I’m talking about as the dual system. There’s that for a pro-life activist, but not that for a Black Lives Matter protester who maybe torches a federal building over the summer. So, that disparity, that dichotomy is what sticks in people’s mind.”
Wray responded that “people have their opinions” and claimed that the FBI has “one standard” that is “irrespective of ideology, of politics, in this country, it doesn’t matter what you’re upset about or who you’re upset with.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP
WATCH:
FBI Director Chris Wray defends sending armed agents to arrest a pro-life activist while not cracking down on BLM terrorists who torched cities in 2020.pic.twitter.com/scIOzRIv4U
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 1, 2023
TRANSCRIPT:
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: All right, so let’s talk about by the book.
Mark Houck, Pennsylvania pro-life activist arrested at his home in front of his family for an alleged violation of the Freedom of Access of Clinics Act, alleged incident in which he was protesting in front of an abortion clinic. He was recently acquitted of all charges at trial.
The show of force for that arrest, that decision to use that force, was that by the book?
CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: Those decisions are made, as they should be, by the commanders on the ground in the field office who have the expertise about when to conduct operations safely and securely for the safety of everybody involved.
And, to my knowledge, those processes were all followed in this case.
BAIER: Yes, I mean, historically, FBI protocol is that a defendant has — if he has no criminal history, is not believed to be violent or pose a threat to public safety, that he or she is permitted to self-surrender, rather than subject dynamic execution of an arrest warrant.
Here’s what I’m talking about as the dual system. There’s that for a pro-life activist, but not that for a Black Lives Matter protester who may be torches a federal building over the summer. So, that disparity, that dichotomy is what sticks in people’s mind.
WRAY: I understand that people have their opinions.
All I can tell you is that we have one standard, one standard, which is, irrespective of ideology, of politics, in this country, it doesn’t matter what you’re upset about or who you’re upset with. You don’t get to express that upset with violence. And so we are agnostic as to ideology and focus on the violence.
For even a white-collar, there are situations where white-collar arrests have resulted in shootings. So, there’s a whole lot of things that goes into the judgment about what is the way to conduct arrests safely and securely that are made, I think appropriately, by the career agents on the ground who have the closest visibility to the circumstances.
And the FBI has a long history of conducting those operations with a far better track record of safety than a lot of other agencies, precisely because those people take it so seriously and so meticulously.