FBI Director Wray to face questions on Capitol riot, domestic terrorism

FBI Director Christopher Wray is expected to face questions from Congress on Tuesday for the first time since the Jan 6 deadly riot in the U.S. Capitol. Lawmakers are likely to uphold him on whether the bureau adequately communicated with other law enforcement agencies about the possibility of violence that day.

Questions about the FBI’s preparations for the riots, and investigations into it, are expected to be asked when Wray will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

It will be the first formal statement from the FBI about the status of the riot investigation and also the first opportunity to discuss why it did not react in advance to what it now says in court documents was extensive plotting and planning by known extremist groups that communally attacked the Capitol.

Wray has made some brief comments last month during a televised inauguration but has not attended any of the many briefings about the riot and investigation.

“I’d like to hear Wray explain the factors that seem to have caused the FBI not to see the threat that so many of us saw,” said NBC News national security contributor Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant director of the FBI. “And then, once they saw it, why did they treat it as just another piece of intel?”

Few Democrats along with Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, chair of the Judiciary Committee sent a letter last week inquiring Wray questions about whether the bureau was doing all it could to counter domestic terrorism. A majority of staffers confirmed that Wray will be questioned about domestic threats and the Capitol riot.

Last month, the Biden administration announced that Wray was appointed by President Donald Trump and will remain as the director as he serves what is supposed to be a 10-year term.