Orion Rummler
AxiosTue, 02 Mar 2021 19:49 UTC
© Alex Brandon/APFBI Director Christopher Wray
The FBI views the Jan. 6 Capitol siege as an act of domestic terrorism, director Christopher Wray testified in his opening statement Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Why it matters: The FBI's designation of the attack as domestic terrorism
puts the perpetrators "on the same level with ISIS and homegrown violent extremists," Wray said.
- The attack was led by supporters of former President Trump, as well as members of the Proud Boys and other far-right extremist groups.
- Wray testified that the FBI has seen no evidence that the attack was organized by "fake Trump supporters" or Antifa, as some allies of the former president have baselessly suggested.
Where it stands: The FBI has arrested more than 270 people as part of a wide-reaching probe that
ranges from felony cases "tied to sedition and conspiracy" to assaults on federal and local officers. Over 300 arrests have been made when including agency law enforcement partners.
The big picture: Wray testified that he did not personally see an
FBI field office threat report warning that extremists were planning to travel to D.C. to commit violence and "war" until after the Jan. 6 attack, but that it was passed on to the Capitol Police and D.C. Metro Police via a joint terrorism task force.
- Now-former Capitol Police chief Steven Sund testified last month that a member of the intelligence division at USCP did review the memo, but that "it didn't go any further than that" and that Sund himself had not seen it.
What they're saying: "Jan. 6 was not an isolated event.
The problem of domestic terrorism has been metastasizing cross the country for a long time now and it is not going is a way any time soon," Wray said in his opening statement.
- "When domestic violence extremists use explosive devices, when they attack government facilities and businesses, when they assault law enforcement officers, when they use violence to interfere with the lawful operation of our government, they should expect the FBI to come knocking on their door, no matter where they try to run," he warned.
Comment: Some Republicans pointed out the
asymmetry, with little effect:
"We're not serious about attacking extremism if we care about some government buildings being attacked but not others. We're not serious about attacking domestic extremism if we only focus on white supremacy movements, which isn't the only ideology that's responsible for murders and violence," Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said when questioning Wray.
The FBI director claims his agency has no interest in partisan matters and looks at "ideology" only as a "further piece of the case," but he also pointed to "racially motivated violent extremists" as making up "the biggest chunk" of people committing crimes related to domestic terrorism. It is these "racially motivated violent extremists," he said, that were behind the January 6 attack, along with "militia violent extremists."
Sen. Rick Durbin (D-Illinois) directly shot back at claims that left-wing groups are as equal a threat as more conservative-leaning extremists.
"Let's stop pretending that the threat of Antifa is equivalent to the white supremacist threat. Vandalizing a federal courthouse in Portland is a crime. It should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," he said. "But it is not equivalent to a violent attempt to overthrow the results of elections, nor is it equivalent to mass shootings targeting minority communities."
Not all Republicans were interested in highlighting groups beyond perceived "white supremacists" during their time questioning Wray. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) actually suggested enlarging the FBI to combat the threat of domestic terrorism, asking Wray to submit a list of expansions his agency needs to combat a problem that, according to the director, has "grown dramatically." Graham even suggested "international" terrorists could work to "infiltrate" domestic terrorist groups within the US to commit acts of terror, especially with the 20th anniversary of 9/11 coming this year.
"We need more agents, we need more analysts, we need more data analytics," Wray told Graham, to which the senator told him to "put pen to paper" and officially request additional resources.
It seems repressive tolerance is here to stay for at least the near future...
Comment: Some Republicans pointed out the asymmetry, with little effect: It seems repressive tolerance is here to stay for at least the near future...