Former FBI Director Wray Referred to DOJ For ‘Misleading’ Congress
A Washington-based government transparency organization has urged the Justice Department and the FBI to initiate a criminal investigation into former FBI Director Christopher Wray, claiming he provided false testimony to Congress and obstructed two significant investigations.
Mike Howell, President of the Oversight Project, informed Fox News Digital that the referral focuses on Wray’s comments regarding the FBI’s “Richmond memo,” a document from the bureau’s Virginia office that disclosed anti-Catholic bias, as well as his testimony related to an alleged scheme by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to distribute counterfeit driver’s licenses prior to the 2020 election, as reported by Fox News.
Wray discussed the Richmond memo during his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in July 2023, after the document controversially labeled Catholics as potential domestic threats.
“What I can tell you is that you are referring to the Richmond product, which is a single product from a single field office, and as soon as I became aware of it, I was appalled and ordered its withdrawal and removal from FBI systems,” Wray stated.
However, the Oversight Project contended that this statement is either misleading or entirely false.
Representative Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) interrogated Wray regarding the Richmond memo and a so-called “Trump questionnaire” that circulated within the FBI, which examined agents’ loyalty to the former president and inquired whether they had participated in protests or rallies associated with the January 6 Capitol breach.
“We continue to hear about these ‘isolated examples,’ whether it’s Richmond Catholics or this [questionnaire] — isn’t it indicative of a pattern?” Tiffany questioned.
The Oversight Project also cited the opening remarks of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley during a June hearing on Biden-era “cover-ups,” in which the Iowa Republican stated that the Richmond memo “utilized the poor research of the radical Southern Poverty Law Center to label traditional Catholics as violent extremists.”
“According to the records I released last week, there was not merely one FBI document that utilized biased anti-Catholic sources, but rather more than a dozen,” Grassley stated. “Additionally, more FBI field offices were involved than we had previously been informed.”
A second memo from Richmond, akin to the first and not released due to the backlash, was part of a series of documents that were partially redacted and sent to FBI Director Kash Patel in June. It indicated that the bureau “assesses that RMVE (Racially Motivated Violent Extremism) interest in RTC (Radical Traditional Catholic) ideology is likely to rise … as we approach the [2024] general election cycle.”
“Director Wray’s testimony was misleading not only because it did not disclose the extent of the memo’s production and distribution, but also because it failed to acknowledge the existence of a second draft document on the same subject intended for external dissemination to the entire FBI,” the Oversight Project stated in a separate announcement.
The Oversight Project specifically accused individuals of obstructing congressional proceedings, committing perjury, and providing false statements, as noted further by Fox News.
In June, Grassley informed Fox News that his office had discovered 13 additional documents similar to the Richmond memo. He mentioned that these documents had been circulated and that “at least 1,000 individuals had access to information suggesting that the Catholic Church needed to be monitored as it could be perceived as a terrorist organization.”
Patel referenced the CCP influence case in a statement made in June, asserting that “former FBI leadership concealed the facts and misled the public regarding China’s interference in the 2020 election. They did this for political advantage. This FBI is revealing all of it and providing Americans with the truth they deserve.”
Patel claimed that the FBI “suppressed” evidence in 2020 for political convenience and expressed gratitude to Grassley for assisting current FBI leadership in bringing this matter to public attention.