Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) grilled FBI Director Christopher Wray on the “explosive” court opinion that prevents the Bureau from colluding with Big Tech to censor Americans.
T
he House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Wednesday to hold the FBI accountable for their apparent abuse of power and involvement in silencing Americans online.
Johnson tried to get Wray’s reaction to the July 4 court opinion by Chief District Judge Terry Doughty of Louisiana which said evidence of government collusion with Big Tech to censor people “depicts an almost dystopian scenario.” Wray appeared unfazed.
Johnson noted that the ruling “explains in detail that the FBI was directly involved in what the court says is ‘arguably the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.’” He added: “Director Wray, I find it stunning, you made no mention of the ruling in your opening statement today or in this lengthy 14-page report you prepared on July 12 which is eight days after the court ruling.”
The congressman went on to ask whether Wray had even read the ruling and whether he was “deeply disturbed” by it. Wray responded claiming he had “reviewed” the ruling with the FBI’s general counsel. He also claimed that the FBI was complying with the court’s order that the Bureau cannot work with social media companies to suppress speech, but whistleblowers disputed the FBI’s compliance the day before the hearing.
Johnson didn’t mince words about Wray’s apparent lack of concern. “Let me tell you what the court concluded because it should be the first thing you think about every morning and the last thing you think about at night,” Johnson said. “They said that … ‘apparently, [the FBI] engaged in a massive effort to suppress disfavored conservative speech’ and ‘blatantly ignored the first amendment’s right to free speech.’ The evidence shows the FBI ‘threatened adverse consequences to social media companies’ if they did not comply with its censorship requests.”
Again quoting the opinion, Johnson doubled down on the FBI’s role in censoring the American people:
“The evidence shows you –your agency, the people that directly report to you– suppressed conservative-leaning free speech on the [Hunter Biden] laptop, the lab leak theory of COVID-19’s origin, the effectiveness of masks and COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccines, speech about election integrity and the 2020 presidential election, security of voting by mail, even parody about the president himself, negative posts about the economy. The FBI made the social media platforms pull that information off the internet if it came from conservative sources. They did this under the guise that it was disinformation.”
When asked to define disinformation, Wray evaded the question. “Our focus is on malign, foreign disinformation that is foreign hostile actors who engage in covert efforts to abuse our social media platforms,” Wray claimed. But Johnson wasn’t having it. “That’s not accurate. You need to read this court opinion because you’re in charge of enforcing it.”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech and government agencies be held to account to mirror the First Amendment. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
