Republicans grilled FBI Director Christopher Wray about the agency’s investigations into former President Donald Trump during a hearing Wednesday, offering a reminder of just how far the party is willing to go to protect the former president.
The hearing stretched on for hours, with Republicans repeatedly advancing their idea that the FBI has become a political weapon Democrats use against Trump — and conservatives more broadly.
Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY), for instance, argued that the FBI was promoting a “two-tier justice system” that has been used to “persecute people based on their political beliefs.” And Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) contended that the FBI had become “a political tool of the Biden administration,” characterizing its raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last summer as an example of how “conservative political opponents” have been targeted.
Wray, a Republican appointed by Trump, called those depictions “insane.”
“I would disagree with your characterization of the FBI and certainly your description of my own approach,” Wray said. “The idea that I’m biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background.”
The hearing was just the latest reflection of how strongly Republicans have turned against the law enforcement agencies that have sought to investigate Trump, their ideological standard-bearer and 2024 presidential frontrunner.
With Trump now facing federal charges in the classified documents case investigated by the FBI, many Republicans are wrestling with how to reconcile their absolute support for the former president with the notion that they are the party of “law and order.” Some far-right members of Congress are even calling on their peers to defund or dismantle the FBI, and that’s an awkward battle cry for a party that claims to “always back the blue.”
Republicans’ longstanding political attacks on the FBI and other law enforcement agencies
Republicans’…
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