Washington: The head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation appeared in the Senate on Tuesday to testify about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — six months after he warned Congress about rising domestic extremism.
FBI Director Christopher Wray appeared before the Senate judiciary committee to give testimony about how the bureau is working to fight White supremacist violence and other far-right extremism in the wake of the riot, which was perpetrated by radical supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Wray was expected to face questions about whether the FBI is allocating resources to mitigate similar violence like that seen during the insurrection “in a manner that reflects the scale of this threat,” the committee said in a statement.
“The tragic events of Jan. 6 put on full display that violent White supremacists pose the most significant domestic terrorism threat to our nation,” Sen. Dick Durbin, chair of the judiciary committee, said during a call with Wray last week.
“For far too long, the federal government has turned a blind eye to this evil in our own back yard. This must change.”
Wray was also expected to be asked about an FBI report issued before the attack, which detailed online calls for violence and urged radical Trump supporters to be “ready for war,” and why it failed to reach senior leadership in the Capitol Police and the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms.
During a joint hearing last week of the Senate homeland security and rules committees, four law enforcement and security officers who were on duty during the riot testified that they agreed with the statement that White supremacist and extremist groups were involved in the attack.
