Wray mum on Hill ‘plot’ FBI big on Sen. grill
FBI Director Christopher Wray was questioned at a Senate hearing on Tuesday about whether the agency was aware of Michael Sussmann’s connections to Hillary Clinton when he relayed a never-verified tip about then-candidate Donald Trump having links to Russia.
Sussmann, an attorney with ties to the Clinton presidential campaign, was indicted last week by special counsel John Durham for lying to the FBI in 2016 about the Russia investigation.
Sen. Ron John- son (R-Wis.) asked Wray (inset) during a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee whether he knew Sussmann or had read the indictment.
“I would suggest you and everybody else read that,” Johnson told Wray. “It outlines what happened to create this turmoil, lays out how the Clinton campaign paid for, through Michael Sussmann, completely false allegations that Trump was cooperating with Alfa Bank.”
The senator went on to say it was the “same dynamic in terms of the false Steele dossier” that contained Russian disinformation about the former president and became the basis for Operation Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI’s code name for its investigation of Trump and Russia.
Johnson pressed Wray on whether he or other FBI officials involved in the Russia probe — Peter Strzok, Lisa Page or Andrew McCabe — had knowledge about Sussmann’s ties to Clinton.
Wray claimed he couldn’t speak on the matter because it is an ongoing criminal investigation.
“That’s fine. I won’t get an answer,” Johnson said. “Either the FBI was completely clueless or corrupt that they didn’t check into whether Michael Sussmann might have been working for the Hillary Clinton campaign before they opened the investigation.”
Johnson pointed out that Wray was confirmed in August 2017, and the FBI in a February 2018 briefing to the Senate Intelligence Committee said the Steele dossier was still credible. But Johnson said the FBI knew in January 2017 that the dossier contained Russian disinformation.
“That was under your watch. Do you have an explanation?” Johnson demanded.
The FBI director said the agency was still working with Durham and didn’t want to talk about the investigation.