will come to order today we continue our work to restore the committee's traditional oversight role which I have tried to work on since I've become chair director Ray your testimony marks the fourth time you've appeared before this committee since January of 2021 I want to begin by thanking you for the work that you and more than 35,000 FBI employees do to protect America and uphold our constitution I'm troubled that the FBI is facing baseless claims that you have been weaponized for political purpos and dangerous calls to defund the agency there are people listening to that sort of rhetoric this irresponsible irresponsible charge has real consequences just last month a man from Tennessee pled guilty to a December 2022 plot to attack the Knoxville FBI office and kill the agents involved in the investigation of his codefendants participation in the January 6 inter Insurrection this committee plays a critical iCal role in holding the FBI accountable to the American people but I urge my colleagues to exercise this oversight in a responsible and respectful manner I urge my colleagues as well not to engage in bullying or conduct Unbecoming of a member of this committee one of the central concerns that I would like to raise is the troubling increase in hate crimes in America including anti-semitic anti-arab and islamophobic attacks in the wake of the Middle Eastern con conflict the FBI must continue to respond swiftly to these threats in Illinois we are still grieving the horrific murder of a six-year-old Palestinian American wadia Alam and the violent attack on his mother by a man who targeted them simply because of their national origin and we send our support to hasham Al Alani tasin Ali Ahmad and Kenan Abdul Muhammad as they recovery from as they recover from their injuries and ver these three young men of Palestinian descent were shot while walking to dinner when they were attacked two were wearing cfas a traditional Palestinian headdress the Jewish Community is also experienc an historic surge in threats vandalism and attacks for example a Las Vegas man was recently indicted for making threatening calls to our Jewish colleague Senator Rosen I strongly support the FBI's critical work in combating all of these threats but there is a need for continued Improvement especially ensuring that more hate crimes are actually reported to law enforcement at the same time that the FBI addresses domestic threats it must also respond to International actors just last week the justice department unsealed the indictment of an Indian national accused of conspiring to assassinate a sick American on American soil at the direction of an Indian government official as I've said many times in this committee political violence in all forms is unacceptable an attack on any individual based on their race ethnicity gender sexuality nationality religion or disability is not consistent with the values of America every Community deserves to feel safe and the FBI plays an important role in guaranteeing that sense of security the threat of violent extremism is heightened by the proliferation of guns in America since the enactment of the bipartisan safer communities act the FBI has conducted more than 100,000 enhanced background checks for gun purchases under 21 keeping Firearms out of the hands of prohibited people there is more work to be done director Ray I want to thank you for hosting me yesterday at the FBI headquarters for a demonstration of the FBI's use of section 702 of fisa there is no question that section 702 is a critical tool for collecting foreign intelligence and protecting America I appreciate the reforms you put in place with the f court is to address what the fisa court called widespread and persistent violation of 702 rules I still remain concerned though about protecting the communications of innocent Americans from warrantless surveillance I look forward to contining to work with you to reauthorize 702 with the significant reforms we need to protect the privacy of innocent Americans I now turn to the ranking member lindsy Graham for his opening remarks thank you Mr chairman uh welcome uh inspector ector director um so we really appreciate you coming now is a good time to have an honest talk with the American people through the committee about the dangers we face what the FBI is doing every day and how we can you know make you stronger in the face of a lot of threats you'll be asked about the FBI's role in monitoring religious organizations uh the debacco call Crossfire hurricane hangs in the air in the conservative world and so we're going to move forward uh you'll be asked some tough questions and I appreciate uh you being here today so Mr chairman one thing that I will be talking about among the list of threats is a broken border Mr chairman since President Biden uh has taken office we've had 6.6 million encounters with il legal aliens at the southern border that's larger than 33 States and we're on Pace the last seven days we've been averaging about 9500 a day play that out we're looking at 3.4 million this year at that rate that puts us at 10 million and that doesn't count the guideways so we're negotiating how to help Ukraine count me in for helping Ukraine a robust package to help our allies in Ukraine Ukraine makes sense to me uh upping the ability of Taiwan to defend itself makes sense to me helping Israel makes all the sense in the world border security is the fourth plank of this supplemental uh we're wildly apart the negotiations by Senator lford and Murphy I appreciate their efforts we made great progress I think on Asylum but the Democratic party seems to be unwilling to address the key problem parole this statute is pretty clear the secretary at DHS has the ability to parole an individual it's supposed to be an individual based on a caseby casee basis for Urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit uh mayorcas and people at DHS have used that provision to give parole to over 240,000 people from four countries alone Cuba Haiti Nicaragua and Venezuela it is not meant to be used in that fashion why are we at an impass uh the bid Administration refuses to follow the law as written refuses to give up this concept of humanitarian parole because it is their way of managing the Border why are so many people coming now compared to before the belief is Mr chairman if you get to America you got a really good chance of never leaving catching release is the policy if you apply for a solemn the initial screening test is way too low and your Cas is to be heard years from now you're released in the United States uh you're paroled in the United States when we run out of bed space or they just want to parole people the Democratic governors and uh mayors of large Blue cities are complaining but their answer is just more resources to process illegal immigration you will not get a deal from the Republican Party unless we change the policies that are leading to 9500 on average a day coming to our border what are we looking for not hr2 but we're looking for policy changes that will spread throughout the world and people will no longer risk their lives their family lives pay thousands of dollars to human traffickers to show up at our border that's what we're trying to do you don't want to do that you clearly as a party do not want to change the policies that are attracting so many people it's inhumane I think to lure people through this journey it's not fair to the American people to be overrun in the fashion we are given the threats that exist in the world it's exceedingly dangerous to have lost control of your border I'm often asking at home are they incompetent or they want it this way the Biden Administration I think there are a lot of smart people in the Biden Administration they want it this way they want to be able to have the ability to use parole humanitarian parole and there's no such creature that allows for blanket admission into the country as a tool to control the flow they're not interested in deterring the flow they just want to control the flow manage the flow we on this side there are some of Republicans that won't vote for any Aid to Ukraine but they're in an distinct minority uh in the Senate and I think the house is at least evenly divided if we had a border security proposal as part of the supplemental that addressed our own National security needs here at home I think You' get a very large vote so I don't need any more lectures about the need for Ukraine I got it I understand you're right I understand why we should help Israel I understand why we should toughen up Taiwan what you clearly don't seem to understand or you're not going to accept the situation at the border is a national security nightmare in the making it's unfair to the Border communities to have to live like this so I have urged Governor Abbott who's been on the tip of the spear here now is moving to Arizona to make it real to Senators who seem to object to making the policy changes I know Chicago has has had a lot of illegal immigrants sent there there are a lot of senators who are refusing to fix the broken border whose states are pretty much immune from the problem uh in the sense that they're not having to deal with hundreds of thousands of people uh coming across and wreaking havoc on the border towns fentol is an all-time high coming into the country through a broken Southern border made in made in China for the most part um we're never going to stop the flow of fentol until we regain control of our border so to those who are following these negotiations let me tell you where they're at they're stuck they're not going forward in a productive fashion until the Biden Administration is willing to change the policies that are leading last two days 10,200 let me say that again in the last two days 10,200 people have shown up at the border those are the ones that we know about the last seven days almost 9500 on average you're on track to do 3.6 million there will be no deal until you change the policies that lead to this problem if that's too far for you I'm sorry it shouldn't be too far for America the American people are demanding to regain control of a border where we have lost control American people want to AB Israel generally speaking their division on Ukraine but I think Ukraine would carry the day with border security there are so many threats that the director will talk about but people ask me in the hallway all the time where are we on negotiating the Border we stuck and there will be no deal until the policy changes that would lead to people not coming at the levels are coming today uh is enacted that's where we're at you seem to be comfortable my friends on the Democratic side while making small changes to a big problem nibbling around the edges of this problem it'd be like sending guns to Ukraine without any bullets you're really robust when it comes to Ukraine and I'm with you but when it comes to our border you're playing a game of doing the least amount possible to pick 10 or 12 of us off it ain't happening and I've been involved in this issue for 20 years this is not about immigration reform and it needs to happen is about securing a broken border at a time when the threats to our nation are all-time high and it started with Afghanistan the world is on fire multiple fronts and getting worse every day there will be no no assistance to other nations who are deserving until we assist our own Nation so this attitude of doing the least you can trying to pick 10 or 12 of us off is not going to work we're United over here we're divided on Ukraine but I would say two-thirds of our conference would vote for a package including Ukraine 8 if it had real border security and here's the problem you got I know what real border security looks like so does Senator Tillis so does Senator cotton so does Senator lenford and so does everybody else over here so you're making a choice you're putting your nation at risk and the consequence of this is going to be devastating to the world let me lay out the Mechanics for today's hearing after I swear in director Ray he has five minutes to provide an opening statement then we'll turn to members each will have seven minutes and please try to remain within your a lotted Time director would you please stand to be sworn do you affirm testimony you're about to give before this committee is be the truth the TR truth and meth by the truth you got let the record reflect that the director has answered in the affirmative and I now recognize him thank you good morning chairman Durban ranking member Graham members of the committee I'm proud to be here today representing the FBI the threats the bureau's 38,000 men women tackle every day are more complex and evolving more quickly than ever before and we continue to work relentlessly to stay ahead of those threats and to outpace our adversaries for example last year we disrupted over 40% more cyber operations and arrested over 60% more cyber criminals than the year before over the past two years we've seized enough fenel to kill 270 million people that's about 80% of all Americans we're also focused on other threats that emanate from the border and impact communities all over the country things like violent gangs and human traffickers at the same time given the steady drum beat of calls for attacks by Foreign terrorist organizations since October 7th were working around the clock to identify and disrupt potential attacks by those inspired by by hamas's horrific terrorist attacks in Israel and in recent years we've seen an increase in hate crimes investigations including a particularly big chunk involving threats to the Jewish community that is a troubling Trend we were focused on before October 7th that's only gotten worse in the month since I could go on and on about the important work the FBI's dedicated professionals are doing across the entire spectrum of threats each and every day to protect their fellow Americans but in the time I have here this morning I want to emphasize the importance of one tool in particular that is indispensable to our efforts to combat threats posed by Foreign adversaries one that will expire in just a few short weeks if Congress does not act and that is fisa's 702 authorities for the FBI as this committee knows 702 allows us to stay a step ahead of foreign actors located outside the United States who pose a threat to National Security and the expiration of our 72 authorities would be devastating to the FBI's ability to protect Americans from those threats so let me explain just a bit about what I mean by that when an overseas cyber criminal breaches a Transportation Hub a public utility or even a children's Hospital 702 is often the tool we use to find victims and get them what they need to get their systems back up and running and just as important it helps us identify the next targets so they can defend themselves against an attack in just one recent cyber case for instance 702 allowed the FBI to alert more than 300 victims in every state and countries around the world and I should add that many of those crucial victim not ifications were made possible by our ability to conduct us person queries of our existing 702 collection when it comes to foreign adversaries like Iran Whose actions across a whole host of threats have grown more Brazen seeking to assassinate highlevel officials kidnap dissidents and conduct cyber attacks here in the United States or the people's Republic of China which poses in my view a generational threat to our economic and National Security stripping the FBI of its 702 authorities would be a form of unilateral disarmament or take the elevated threat of international terrorism 702 is key to our ability to detect a foreign terrorist organization overseas directing an operative here to carry out an attack in our own backyard and US person queries in particular May provide the critical link that allows us to identify the intended target or build out the network of attackers so we can stop them before they strike and kill Americans given the critical importance of 702 we are committed to being good stewards of our authorities and to that end I have ordered a whole host of Chang es to address unacceptable compliance incidents reforms as you noted Mr chairman that many members of this committee have seen with their own eyes in live demonstrations of our systems at FBI headquarters we've improved our systems enhanced training added oversight and approval requirements adopted new accountability measures on top of that we stood up a brand new office of internal auditing that's been focused specifically on fisa compliance most of the Declassified reports that have come out over the past year or so involve compliance errors that predate those reforms and I have been encouraged by the more recent data showing the significant positive impact that those reforms those changes have had the most recently Declassified opinion from the fisa court for instance shows a 98% compliance rate and observ eres that the reforms are and I'm quoting the court here having the desired effect and the two most recent Department of Justice semiannual reports likewise now show a greater than 98% compliance rate we're proud of the progress we've made so far but we are by no means done we recognize that this is an ongoing effort and are determined to work with Congress to get it right but but as we enter this critical phase of the renewal process it is imperative that we not undercut the effectiveness of this essential tool with a warrant requirement or some other restriction that would paralyze us and our ability to tackle fast-moving threats like the ones I just described because crucial to our ability to use this information to actually protect Americans is our ability to review it promptly and efficiently and to be clear no court has ever held that a warrant is required for the FBI to query 702 data already lawfully in our Holdings in fact in fact every court that has considered 702 in its current form the fisa court the fisa court of review three different courts of appeals has found 702 to be constitutional so restricting the FBI ability to collect under 702 or to review what's already in our collection well that would be a legislative policy choice and if that's the path that's chosen what are we going to say to the family whose loved ones care was sabotaged when a hospital was taken offline by a foreign adversary and the FBI wasn't able to stop that Cyber attack what's the justification for not using every lawful tool to stop China from stealing our technology and undermining our freedoms because I can assure you the PRC is not holding back and they're not tying their own hands behind their back and what if there were a terrorist attack that we had a shot to prevent but couldn't take it because the FBI was deprived of its ability under 702 to actually look at Key information already sitting in our Holdings now I was in FBI headquarters 22 years ago on 911 and over the years I've spoken with families of victims of that horrific attack before that attack well-intentioned policy makers had made the choice to build a wall preventing access to National Security information sitting in our and our partners Holdings well I bring that up because allowing 702 to lapse or amending it in a way that undermines its Effectiveness would be akin to laying bricks to rebuild another pre- 911 style wall what could anybody possibly say to victim's families if there was another attack that we could have prevented if we hadn't given away the ability to effectively use a tool that courts have consistently deemed constittution U because let's not fool ourselves that's what's at stake with the reauthorization of 702 as the threats from foreign adversaries to our homeland continue to evolve the agility and effectiveness of 702 will be essential to the FBI's ability really our mandate from the American people to keep them safe for years to come and we owe it to them to make sure we've got the tools that we need to do that so thank you for having me and I look forward to your questions thank you very much director I'll start the questioning um thank you for the visit yesterday to your headquarters and the demonstration of I think true advancements in terms of 702 to try to avert any concern about constitutional issues I still have some of those concerns as you might expect uh and we have offered a alternative to the current system that we think is reasonable it has an emergency exception in it to as it should because there are issues of grave National Security that can't wait even for the process to continue uh and secondly when it came to victimization uh we allow consent by the victim to go forward with collection of information uh in those situations as it should be since the enactment of fisa amendment reauthorization Act of 2018 the FBI has been required to obtain a court order for us person searches in a narrow subset of cases involving predicated criminal investigations unrelated to National Security as the FBI ever obtained a court order in order to perform a US person search of 702 data in this context uh to the best of my knowledge we have not and that's partly because that's not the way we use 702 that's correct the answer is zero the office of the Director of National Intelligence annual statistical transparency report for 20120 revealed that this statutory requirement has been triggered approximately 100 times is that true that I can't speak to the number um I know I think the report in question may involve um incidents that all occur before the reforms uh that we just were talking about but I I'd appreciate if you take a look at that and answer for the record let me take to another topic that I has been issued discussed before this committee and voted on several different occasions and that's cesam child sexual abuse materials recently the National Association of Attorneys General sent a letter to Congress asking lawmakers to study the means and methods of artificial intelligence or AI being used to exploit children through a generation of child sexual abuse material or c Sam in the letter the Attorneys General described how AI can be used to create new images of children in sexual positions or otherwise overlay photos of unvc imized children on photos of abused children to create seesam uh put this in simple terms I don't know of any parent or grandparent who's knowledgeable in this area who hasn't warned their children grandchildren please be careful what you communicate on the internet and who you Comm communicate it with you've highlighted the FBI's work to quote identify prioritize investigate and deter individuals and criminal networks from exploiting children and you've noted that the proliferation of seesam on the dark net is threatening director Ray can you elaborate on what the FBI is doing to disrupt Technologies used to exploit children what obstacles are you facing related to this work so I think there is no Mission set no threat that the uh FBI's men and women tackle that is more uh righteous and more at the heart of why we do what we do than protecting kids um and I know that last year we uh arrested something like 3,000 child predators and rescued uh something like 2,000 kids from exploitation the vast majority of which is happening uh heavily online but then often leads to uh what's even worse which is the actual Hands-On abuse and certainly as you noted Mr chairman uh technologies have continued to advance in a way that makes uh that threat even more pernicious including AI including the ability to uh create synthetic content for example uh when you ask about challenges that we face one of the biggest concerns that we have is that the companies these technology companies are increasingly moving in a direction where they are designing warrant proof decryption and what that means to everybody listening at home is that we're going to be in a situation where the abuse that's happening on those platforms law enforcement won't have any ability no matter how Rock Solid the the warrant to get access to the information we need to protect those kids and take down those monsters and the companies themselves are effectively blinding themselves to abuse that's happening on their own platforms uh so what we really need is for the companies to work with Congress work with the executive branch work with law enforcement to design their encryption in a way that make sure that they maintain the ability to respond to uh you know rock solid legal process respond to warrants so why aren't they cooperating with us why are these companies resisting an effort to engage them in solving the problem well I I you know I can't speak for them in terms of their motivations obviously uh these issues get into balances of privacy and security and that's a long-standing children when it comes to children for good and sakes what is a privacy concern there you got me uh I I will tell you that uh we get from some of these companies millions of tips we've had historically uh about child exploitation and the idea that we would go into a model where those tips just evaporate let's be clear when the tips evaporate the kids are still out there getting abused the Predators are still out there the only thing's changed is our ability to do anything about it because the way in which the companies would be designing their encryption so it's a way for them to essentially and again I can't speak to their motivation but it's a way for them to essentially blind themselves to what's happening on their platforms and then indirectly then blind us to our ability to protect kids and go after Predators we're going to be bringing some leaders in the industry before this committee uh next uh month I hope uh we can ask these questions directly but I will tell you we passed overwhelmingly unanimously five different uh bills related to this issue uh and I thought that was going to be an Avenue to bring them to the floor the resistance from Big Tech uh to even pursue this issue despite this overwhelming bipartisan vote troubles me great greatly I want to believe they want to do the right thing there's very little evidence of that Senator Graham thank Mr chairman let's pick up on that real quickly do you agree that social media systems as they're designed today present dangers to American families uh sure thanks all right I don't know where to begin other than uh is now a good time to fund the FBI below inflation uh I think just say no no I I was about to say hell no yeah well yeah no no you can say hell no if you want to I'll say leading the witness right yeah I think that's pretty dumb given what you've told us uh how long have you been associated with the FBI well I've been director a little over uh six years but I've been working with the fbii my whole career really let's put a fine point on where we're at today as America how would you describe the threat Matrix against America today from your point of view after having been at the FBI most of your adult life so what I would say that is unique about the environment that we're in right now in my career is that while there may have been times over the years where individual threats could have been higher here or there than where they might be right now I've never seen a time where all the threats or so many of the threats are all elevated all at exactly the same time that's what makes this environment that we're in now so fraught and why funding our men and women who are working shoulder-to-shoulder with state and local law enforcement and other partners every day makes it even more important not less so blinking red lights analogy about 911 all the lights were blinking red before 9911 apparently obviously all of us missed it would you say that there's multiple blinking red lights out there I see blinking lights everywhere I turn okay all right can't say any better than that uh who's driving all these problems let's start with Iran what is Iran trying to do to America so Iran which is of course the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism let's start there um Iran just in the last couple years if you want to bring it home here to the Homeland in the last couple years Iran has tried to assassinate a former US National Security adviser on us soil has tried to kidnap and then try to kill a journalist American journalist and human rights activist right smack in the middle of New York City has conducted a Cyber attack on a Children's Hospital in New England and for extra credit as director ratliffe and I announced in the fall of 2020 tried to interfere in the last presidential election so that's just a start so if that's not enough to convince people they've been pretty good to work with right okay let's look at uh you said 80 we found enough fent all to kill 80% of American people and that's just in the last two years okay do you think we miss some fentanyl absolutely okay uh what role does China play in the fentanyl problems America has well the I'd start with uh China supplies most of the precursors uh to the cartels in Mexico which then leads to the fenel that comes here uh and that's been talked about a fair amount and it's a huge problem but in addition to that China is also responsible for an awful lot of the pill presses manufacturing of the pill presses which of course are also used and in addition to that a lot of people don't know this but China is also responsible for an awful lot of the precursors for the meth that's manufactured South of the Border as well do you see that getting better I do not let's talk about Russia what are they up to do well besides their unconscionable aggression in Ukraine uh Russia has one of the most advanced most widespread uh cyber offensive cyber programs in the world uh they have invested in it very heavily uh and have used it in different ways against us and our allies uh they have Intelligence Officers here in the United States uh too many uh by any measure they uh also Prov provide Safe Haven to cyber criminals who uh whether they're working for the Russian government or not uh are conducting cyber attacks against uh you know us and our allies all over the world so that's just a start okay let's go to uh International terrorist organizations one of my concerns is after Afghanistan we sort of put international terrorism on steroids are you concerned that International terrorism threats to the Homeland are rising as the Border continues to be broken I am concerned that we are in an elevated threat environment a heightened threat environment from foreign terrorist organizations um for a whole host of reasons um and obviously their ability to exploit uh any Port of Entry including our Southwest border is a source of concern you know there's a lot of discussion about numbers and numbers are important but let's not forget that it didn't take a big number of people on 9911 to kill 3,000 people so while numbers are important numbers don't tell the whole story and we have seen an increase uh in K so-called ksts known as suspected terrorists attempting to to cross uh you know over the last five years would you say kind of putting a fine point on this topic that right now is the largest threat we face as a nation uh from International terrorist organizations since 911 well uh it's certainly higher than it's been in a long long time let me put it that way because if you just look post October 7th and and I thought the threat was elevated before October 7th but post October 7th you've seen a veritable Rogues gallery of foreign terrorist organizations calling for attacks against us okay so October the 7th was devastating to our friends in Israel so your testimony for this committee since October 7th the uh urging of foreign terrorist organization to attack America has gone up is that fair to say yes the Threat Level has gone to a whole another level since October 7th okay folks you're on notice what are we going to do about it uh finally what should we be doing differently with all these Bad actors I think it's fair to say we've lost deterrence do you have any idea quickly of what we could be doing differently well certainly uh deterrence requires consequences um and so consequences need to be imposed on Bad actors in a variety of ways to ensure deterrence uh consequences are also part of disrupting even without deterrence disrupting and degrading Bad actors abilities to to harm US senator White House morning director R how are you fine thank you I seem uh often to have to use our time together to go over old business for which I apologize but such as the responsiveness of the department um I wanted to talk to you about Charles mcgonagal today um he's an FBI agent agent who is interesting in two respects first he's pleading guilty or has plad guilty to offenses regarding his undisclosed receipt of $225,000 uh from a foreign National and he awaits sentencing for the crimes to which he pled coming up in February the second interesting thing is that he led the New York Counter Intelligence Division during the time that it was widely reported that New York FBI agents and former New York us attorney Rudy Giuliani were pressuring director Comey to intervene in the Hillary Clinton campaign um and do it damage which as we unfortunately know director Comey did with press conferences that violated doj rules and uh procedures so my experience is that when somebody is in the pre-sentencing mode of a criminal plea that's a very good time to get information from them and cooperation from them I don't know what happened in the New York field office during that period but there's a very good chance that mccal does um I'll put into the record uh three letters one is me to attorney general Garland February 7th asking about this the second is office of legislative affairs at doj back to me giving something of an answer to this and the third is a letter off uh doj's website reflecting the plea agreement uh between uh the southern district of New York and the attorneys for Charles uh mcgonagle so at this point um what I asked in the letter was that somebody independent of the FBI take a look to see if there were FBI Shenanigans during that period in that office and I've received no confirmation that anything is going on the plea agreement reflects no signal or sign of cooperation which as you know is often a feature in plea agreements and sentencings so there's no sign that he was asked to cooperate outside of The Plea um I have been unable to determine whether or not the Inspector General is even eyeballing this to see if uh somebody independent from the FBI somebody in the department should take a look what do you know of the status of this and are you um would it make sense would it not make sense let me put it that way to have an independent set of eyeballs have a look at what mcgonagal knows about what took place in in that office at that time while he is in this helpful position of being subject to sentencing uh well Senator uh I appreciate you raising the topic so a couple things uh first um our Counter Intelligence Division um of course are the people who identified mcgonigal's um wrongdoing uh pursued it arrested him and are very focused on trying to determine uh in all the ways you would imagine what if anything he might have impacted uh through his misconduct that's one uh second um there are I think two US attorneys offices involved both New York southern New New York and the I think the District of Colombia as well so two cases um that are pre-sentencing and that his um cooperation if you will could be potentially relevant to uh and we are I can tell you I want to be a little bit careful how far I can go on this but I I will tell you we have involved the Inspector General uh as well uh because we like you I want to make sure we understand the full scope of what Mr micle uh did and what he knows so the doj Inspector General is involved has notified has been has been uh engaged with engaged is yeah okay well that's good to hear uh let's go back to 702 for a moment moment um I understand um that 702 which was originally designed sort of for a counterterrorism purpose has also been deployed against the international fentanyl trafficking apparatus is that correct and has 702 been important in combating the international fentanyl trafficking apparatus uh 702 has been important uh in the the fighting against the scourge of fentel uh more so I would say by our intelligence Community Partners uh the CIA for example uh in their work overseas uh to pursue some of the foreign uh Dimensions um of the fental crisis which of course then have massive ramifications for communities all over the United States uh so that's a success of 702 it is a success of 702 you also mentioned mened the role of 702 in reaching out to victims of crime of potential uh foreign intelligence operations um could you elaborate in our last minute together a little bit more on the role of 702 in supporting the government's role in letting Americans and American companies find out that they are the victims or have been the victims of criminal and intell Ence attacks and helping them work through the consequences uh as victims well in the in the short time we had what I would say is 702 especially the ability to run queries on IP addresses email addresses things like that uh is statistically right now the biggest place in which it's used is cyber attacks so victims overwhelmingly victims of of Russian Iranian Chinese others cyber attacks here in the United States 702 is what allows us to figure out which company is being targeted maybe what the entry point is where the bad guys are going and allows us to then armed with that information rush out to those companies and alert them so that they can take steps to mitigate it before it gets potentially exponentially worse and we find that there are a lot of instances where we're coming to companies who didn't even know they'd been breached yet and if we hadn't had 702 both they and we would have been unwitting if you could share if you could share with us some actual instances make this a question for the record obviously you have to do some scrubbing to make sure that everybody's comfortable with the information being released but I think the more we can know about actual ways in which actual individuals even if they have to be anonymized we're helped and we see the factual circumstances uh that would be useful thank you thanks chairman thanks Senator white out Senator grass uh you testified before the Senate intelligence committee that the Richmond field office anti-catholic memo was quote a product by one field office end of quote you testified before the house Judiciary Committee that the memo was quote a single product of a single field office end quote but the Richmond mammo says two other field offices of the FBI were involved and that that information had been redacted in versions provided to the Congress why did the FBI redact that critical information and second did you review the unredacted version before giving your previous testimony so Senator I think that this notion that other field offices were involved is a a garble uh and let me explain why I I say that uh the only involvement of the two other field offices was the Richmond authors of the product in included two sentences or something of thereabouts referencing each of these other offices cases and they sent those sentences about the other offices cases to them not the whole product and ask them hey did we describe your case right that's all the other offices had so it was a single field office's product and I stand by that did you review the unredacted memo before giving your previous testimony I have reviewed the unredacted memo exactly when I reviewed it I can't see sit as I sit here right now tell you okay in July of this year I made public what's now known as the Biden family 1023 FBI document I've also written you several letters that the same uh about the same mostly recently I think October 24th that letter of October said in part that the confidential human Source in the Biden f family 1023 was not connected to known sources of Russian dis information that confidential human source is also repe reportedly a high paid long-term long running FBI source that the FBI has used in many investigative matters according to former Attorney General Bill bar bar said that 1023 was deemed sufficiently credible for further investigation on May 31st of this year chairman comr and I had a call with you on that call you told us that the Biden family 23 is related to an ongoing ongoing investigative matter now very clearly these data points show indicators of credibility this uh question for you this FBI 1023 was ser materialized on June 30th 2020 over 3 years ago when were you first made aware of 1023 well I I don't know that I could give you the exact date uh but I can tell you that um that I learned of the 1023 much much much more recently than anything around uh 2020 that's for sure uh this is a public document you have have an obligation to uh tell this uh committee what you knew about it when you knew about it and if you can't give us that information I guess I better go on are there additional FBI generated 1023s that reference a bribery scheme involving the Biden family and if so how many and what are their dates well senator now you're asking questions that relate directly to special Council Weiss's ongoing investigation and uh respectfully I I can't really discuss anything related to that investigation I would refer you to him for that the 1023 references alleged text Financial records and audio tapes that prove some sort of scheme involving money with uh Biden people these are discrete documents that can be obtained if they exist when a high paid long used Federal confidential human Source provides the FD FBI with evidence that three types different types of Records exist that prove a crime involving a political official then standard FBI practice is to take steps to obtain the that evidence would you agree with with that what I've said so far about the FBI policy and if not why not well certainly I would expect people to do appropriate followup on anything in a 1023 but obviously every one of those instances is very fact specific in case specific case dependent that ansers okay so then based upon what you just told me did the FBI seek these records in this matter well let me separate into two different things here when it comes to uh the investigation uh being led by special Council Weiss uh which is being supported by our Baltimore Field office that one I'm not going to be able to discuss because it's an ongoing investigation when it comes to the uh assessment that occurred um in being run out of the office of uh our field office in Pittsburgh and the US attorney Mr Brady uh as selected by attorney general bar to look at all of this um back back in the earlier period you're talking about my understanding is that there was agreement among the the team uh about what steps needed to be taken and with the closing of that assessment Have you communicated with White House officials or used a third party to do so about anything relating to the 1023 as it involves uh people in the Biden family and if so who and when no okay I want to go to sexual Mis uh conduct by the FBI on October the 5th 2022 I sent you a letter and later made FBI records public that showed widespread sexual misconduct in FBI against femal the data also showed that hundreds of FBI Personnel retired to avoid discipline and that senior high level officials received reduce punishment if any at all on October the 6 the FBI told the Associated Press that it intended to respond to me first and declined uh to provide sexual misconduct data to the Press at that time it's over one year later and the FBI has failed to provide this data to me the FBI's blatant lack of action indicates it isn't taking misconduct against women in the workplace seriously why has the FBI failed to provide that very important data to this committee uh and and when will it finally be produced as you told the or the FBI told the Associated Press you was going to well first let me say I could not disagree more strongly that we don't take it seriously I can tell you I take misconduct sexual misconduct against our own employees extremely seriously and we've put in place all sorts of new procedures and policies to deal with that and to communicate no uncertain terms how strongly I feel about that as to the responsiveness to your letter let me follow up with my team and find out where that stands uh but I do want to make sure uh that there's not any confusion none about how seriously I take this topic okay then where's the data if that's what you're going to be willing to take us so seriously I will follow up I will follow up with you uh about your letter okay thank you Senator Grassley senator clar thank you very much uh Mr chair thank you so much uh director Ray for being here um I want to start out with uh hate crimes you and I have talked about them before um I have I know thanked you and your agents in Minnesota for their work in solving what was a clear hate crime uh the with prison sentence of a a bombing of Dar alaroo uh Islamic Center in my home state back in 20 17 um and we know that since that time we've seen increases in hate crimes our report show a 216% increase since October 7 in re requests for help in reported bias incidents against M Muslims another report uh showed a 388 per rise in anti-semitic incidents um since this time last year um we know the facts we know what happened in front of that restaurant in Philadelphia we know that in Illinois a six-year-old Muslim boy was targeted and fatally stabbed for being Palestinian American in Los Angeles a criminal broke into the home of a Jewish Family threatened them and screamed about killing Jews in Vermont a Palestinian student from Brown University whose parents had him stay in the US rather than returning home for safety reasons was shot along with two of his friends in New York a woman was assaulted at Grand Central terminal and when confronted the as salent said it was because you are Jewish in Brooklyn a father and his 18-year-old son were allegedly assaulted by another parent for being Palestinian and last week three suspects were arrested for a 40-minute spree of attacks on Philadelphia on on Jewish New Yorkers um this is concerning for everyone should everyone Democrat Republican Jewish Muslim Christian anyone in this country I know that uh you care about this very much because I saw the work that your agents did in Minnesota and I want to get more details on what the FBI is doing and what the justice department is doing to detect deter and investigate these crimes and then also um the effect of social media um and I know there are limitations on what we can do I have some strong views on this um but um could you also talk about that well appreciate your long-standing interest in this topic um and I know how important it is to you uh not the least of which because of the attacks that have occurred in in your home state uh certainly uh we have seen an increase um in hate crimes uh and there are lots of different numbers out there but I'll just give two for for this purpose uh you know one is in 2022 we saw the highest increase I think in hate crimes reported that we'd seen since maybe 2008 eight uh and we don't have full data for 2023 yet but we expect it to keep going up second data point post October 7th just since October 7th we've of opening uh I think 60% more hate crimes investigations post October 7th then compared to the comparable period pre October 7th and that's on top of that already escalating increase that I mentioned uh as I testified in my opening statement uh the biggest chunk of those uh uh are threats against the Jewish Community but there are of course attacks and you mentioned several of them against others uh as well uh what are we doing about it a few different things we've elevated uh civil rights especially hate crimes to National threat priority and that's been true for the last couple of years and so that uh brings with it more investigative resources uh of all shapes and and sizes uh second we're trying to do a lot to um to engage in Outreach both to law enforcement and the communities because one thing we know about hate crimes is that they're chronically under reported uh and there are lots of reasons for that but so trying to get better data better Fidelity uh of the data allows us to track the trend better but also to ensure that we're finding the cases that need to be pursued uh even when uh a hate crimes charge a federal hate crimes charge is not available able the FBI doesn't just walk away from the case we provide forensic support uh in some cases even testimony and other things in state prosecutions if State charges are being used so those are a few of the things uh in our Outreach efforts I would say we we also uh have tried to do things that are targeted at specific communities uh so for example in New York uh we uh tried to reach out to parts of the Jewish community in New York with uh with with Outreach both in in Yiddish uh and Hebrew and not just in English for example so that's just a flavor thank you um wanted to turn to um fentanyl um we all know that there are so much work that has to be done at the border and so much work that has to be done in um the forts of Entry um mail a bill that Senator Portman and I passed a while back um but we also know that onethird of drug cases um have direct ties to social media and uh we had a kid in Minnesota who died after taking fentanyl laced pill uh that he thought was peret uh to help his migraines purchased on Snapchat um and the Judiciary Committee actually voted with the Chairman's leadership to advance a bipartisan bill with um Senator Shaheen and Marshall to require social media companies to report Fentanyl and other Dangerous Drug sales on their platforms uh it's called the Cooper Davis act and could you talk about how this could be helpful um in taking on these cases well I think what you've put your finger on is the degree to which uh uh online activity is is inextricably intertwined with the fentanyl epidemic uh and that's in a variety of ways uh and I know administrator Milgram at DEA for example has a number of initiatives focused on this as well well um certainly we uh on the FBI's end uh are focused on for example darknet uh marketplaces and we have a whole something called jode which is focused on dismantling darket marketplaces uh of Fentanyl and other dangerous uh narcotics okay thank you and one other um kids issue you noted the importance of protecting kids um um you noted in your written testimony that the FBI has recently reported a massive increase in sex tortion cases where kids and teens are being coerced into sending explicit photos and videos only to be blackmailed or threatened for financial gain um in 2022 alone these scams resulted in at least 20 victims committing suicide and my bill with Senator Corin uh The Shield act uh includes a threat provision and other things that would update and modernize our laws when it comes to revenge porn and um sextortion cases involving kids um while um we are advancing this bill um sadly we have been uh opposed by some members of this committee and I found it incredibly frustrating because they won't meet with me to try to make any changes to it and I'm trying to change that um what threats uh do young people uh receive Steve how do you think um we could make the tools that you have to take on this crime better because I'm going to just start going to the floor and taking this on our colleagues can object if they would like uh with um and I know Senator Corin has been very helpful but I think it's just absolutely ridiculous when you look at these numbers please answer thank you well I I I can't speak to specific legislative proposals but what I can tell you is that sextortion uh is is a rapidly escalating threat uh and as you say there have been way too many teenagers victimized and they don't know where to turn uh and so uh having this discussion in a forum like this uh people like you and Senator Corin raising awareness about it that by itself is hugely valuable as to what we need I will tell you I come back to the answer I gave earlier uh to Chairman deran about the uh the threat if you will of the proliferation of warrant proof encryption if companies are going to take um responsibility for what happens on their platforms then part of taking responsibility includes the ability to when presented with a warrant following all the due process that that entails they will provide the information so that law enforcement not just FBI but other agencies can take action to rescue the kids and take down the Predators than you thank you very much Al my remaining questions on carjacking and uh 702 which I thank you for your work on that uh we can't let it lapse uh in writing thank you thank you Senator clar Senator Corin director Ray let me U start with some basic concepts if you walk into the uh Supreme Court of the United States over the uh arches in the entryway there are inscribed the words equal justice under law I think there's a perception unfortunately that we are not living up to that ideal in a number of respects Senator White House mentioned the shameful treatment of Hillary Clinton somebody who I do not support from a political standpoint but who was subjected to the release of derogatory information of an investigation that director Comey and the FBI conducted involving her and the fact that uh he usurped the authority of the Attorney General when it comes to charging decisions and U made the statement he did I think there's also a perception that President Trump was not treated fairly uh during his time of office particularly because of the uh opposition research um things like the steel dossier the Russia gate investigation uh all of which ended up in uh basically amounting to no charges being filed I want to just say personally I appreciate your willingness to take on the important task of restoring and rebuilding the reputation of the FBI I believe the FBI is a indispensable institution in our government but it's also a big unwieldy institution I think you have about 35,000 people who work at the FBI somewhere like that right uh it's actually closer to 38,000 38,000 and I'm personally convinced that overwhelmingly these are good patriotic hardworking people sacrificing putting themselves In Harm's Way in order to protect the rest of America but like any other large organization they're going to be some bad apples people who abuse trust and who misbehave can you just take u a minute and describe what steps that you have undertaken at the FBI to try to restore the FBI's reputation as an institution that the American people can trust to pursue Equal justice under the law well I appreciate the question let me start with a statement of principle that I hold near and dear and then explain a little bit more concretely what that means my message from day one and probably said every day since I've been in the job uh is that we need to make sure that we're doing the right thing in the right way in everything we do uh and that means the importance of process and following our rules that does not mean and sometimes this is frustrating to people of all shapes and Stripes uh that does not mean we can guarantee the result or the outcome that somebody would like in a case so how do I Implement that principle I have directed all all sorts of changes in the relation to the crossfire hurricane matter for example in that one matter alone uh I directed over 40 corrective measures went above and beyond anything the Inspector General recommended uh and have implemented dozens of changes since then uh you mentioned the Hillary Clinton uh email matter uh there too I accepted every recommendation by the Inspector General then went above and beyond uh in terms of personnel I've installed an entirely new leadership team uh from from when I started um as far as accountability which is a topic that of course is important to a lot of people uh within the tools that we have available to us and the circumstances that are available to us I have taken action what can I do I can in the right circumstances remove somebody from the chain of command and I have I can when the circumstances support it uh have somebody's security clearance revok and I have I can when the circumstances warrant it refer somebody to the Inspector General or the uh hatch acted office for special counsel or or others like that and I have what I can't do uh is prosecute people and that gets to the heart of what you referenced at the very beginning in terms of my predecessor's um handling of the of the Hillary Clinton matter um I'm very sensitive to the fact that the part of the reason I'm in this job is because of the distinction between the FBI director's role and a prosecutor's role uh and a lot of the criticism that the FBI has endured over the last few years has if you look closely revolved around frustrations about whether this person was prosecuted or not and what they were prosecuted for and that ultimately is not the FBI directors or the FBI's choice if I can ask you about 702 well there already been some discussion about that I've referred to section 702 of the foreign intelligence surveillance act as perhaps one of the most important laws that the American people have never heard of and I know we have talked a lot about it but there is a concern that the tools including fisa foreign intelligence surveillance act 702 is can be abused and that it can be used to Target US citizens let me just ask you directly is it possible to Target lawfully Target an American citizen under Section 702 well I think so-called reverse targeting uh targeting of Americans through the the andron of 702 is expressly prohibited that's my understanding of the law as well as a matter of fact the um foreign intelligence surveillance Act is exactly that it's targets foreigners correct outside of the United States yes but if a wouldbe terrorist calls an American citizen in the United States then you necessarily will know who's on both ends of the of that conversation correct well whether it's telephony or or even just uh you know electronic communication but uh which is more often where we see it it can be an email it can be a text it could corre be um correct and then if if for example you want to investigate that American citizen isn't it true that you have to go to the foreign intelligence surveillance court and demonstrate probable cause to conduct a further investigation of that American citizen as a Target yes at that point then that's of course the route that we pursue which is part of why to your your comment at the beginning about uh how little people have heard of 702 is because unlike like the warrant stage when you're actually pursuing somebody for for prosecution for example um 702 is most used and most useful at the stage when you're at the very beginning trying to figure out what the heck do we have here what direction does this need to go is this something we need to pursue and so that's why people including prosecutors don't even hear about it that much because it if when it's most useful to protect Americans from threats I think you've called it the crown jewels or perhaps words to that effect of how would you describe the importance of section 702 and what would be the consequences of willfully blinding ourselves to the threats of uh foreign uh actors I I think blinding ourselves through either allowing 702 to lapse or amending it in a way that guts its Effectiveness uh would be Reckless at best uh and dangerous and irresponsible at worst uh the reality is the whole reason reason we have 702 uh focused on foreign threats from overseas is to protect America from those threats it's not to admire foreign threats from afar and study them and think about them it's to know what they are and to make sure they don't hurt Americans here American businesses targeted with cyber attacks American victims targeted for assassination or terrorist attacks that's why we have it the FBI's piece of 702 we are the only intelligence agency with the authority to operate domestically and so where the rubber really meets the road even though our slice of 702 as a percentage is quite narrow that narrow slice in some ways is the most important slice because that's what protects people here that all of us are sworn to to protect thank you thanks Senator Corin Senator Coons thank you chairman Durban thank you director Ray I look forward to continuing that conversation about section 702 a topic on which I have not firmly made up my mind how to vote so I am open to your input I just wanted to start by thanking you and the men and women of the FBI for your service to our nation and um the protection of the rule of law and specifically thank the FBI for your work in my community in the past year you've worked with state and local prosecutors on civil rights violations on robbery on cyberstalking on kidnapping cases and as someone who had a decade responsible for a local law enforcement entity before coming here to the Senate um I greatly respect and appreciate the role the FBI plays the the academy the resources you provide and the professionalism um in Wilmington Delaware and throughout our whole country let me go to that 702 conversation um the proposal put forward by Senators Warner and Rubio um would prohibit U the running of us person queries designed to find evidence of a crime without first obtaining a court order but could still perform warrantless queries where the search is reasonably likely to retrieve foreign intelligence information what do you think of that compromise would it head off the significantly NE negative consequences you've laid out uh if we failed to reauthorize section 702 uh I think the the bill uh put forward by Senators Warner and Rubio uh provides a path uh that we can work together on um the reality is that pursuing um 702 information for evidence of a crime uh as has been demonstrated or evidence of crime only uh is is extremely rare because that's not the main purpose for which we use it and many of the instances the very few instances in which that has been implicated are actually instances where it was used to um to find Brady information exculpatory information to turn over to the defense um so it is a path uh that I think uh uh merits further exploration I'm aware of specific examples in my home Community where FBI agents came and visited a significant company that was unaware that they had been hacked and was able to take prompt action because of that and I'm familiar with the unique ways in which your domestic authorities complement some of the ability uh we need as a nation to defend against foreign threats you also highlighted in your testimony um that there there were significant past fisa compliance violations at the bureau and that you've been dedicated to taking action to clean house and to address those talk to me briefly if you would about um holding Personnel accountable for a past misuse of fisa data and how that has folded how that has unfolded well uh in addition to a whole host of other reforms we've put in place we uh rolled out new accountability measures uh um designed to make sure that we are capturing not just intentional or Reckless compliance violations of which there have been very very few and and none since 2018 um but even which has been the vast majority of the compliance inance we've had even uh negligent or uh or careless errors we want to make sure that we have accountability for that too now that's a different kind of accountability just because the state of mind mind of the employee is different uh and that's somebody who is coachable but we have procedures now that even for that much more good faith non-compliance they uh temporarily at least lose access to fisa information then there's a whole host of remedial training and so forth that goes and then there's escalating consequences if they don't learn their lesson then it it builds from there that's a a short oversimplification uh but that gives you a flavor of the measures that we put in place a core concern I have frankly is that um a future Administration or director might um still be able to misuse authorities in this section I have not previously voted um to extend the authorization of section 702 um but the reforms proposed in this legislation the actions you've taken have me weighing um what if any assurances could you provide that the rules and the system will hold if we reauthorize 702 uh even if the bureau happened to be led by an appointee who doesn't share your commitment to reform well we've put in place a number of things that would be uh extremely challenging to unwind for one um we created I created a whole new office of internal auditing for example and brought in uh a uh a former agent who had gone on to be a big four accounting firm partner to try to work with yet another big four accounting firm to help us build a uh what I expect to be a worldclass interm auditing program focused specifically on fisa compliance in addition there are external uh looks and oversights most of the problems that have been identified over the years uh have been identified by things like the department of justices reviews uh of course there's been Inspector General reviews uh the court takes a look and that's part of why uh I understand why people might say well GE director you you talk a good game but we've had problems in the past and and why should we think it's different this time and what I would say to you is don't just take my word for it look at what the court the same court that's rightly taken us to task in the past has said that Court the same judge in fact uh that's been perhaps most scathing uh is the one that found 98% compliance and has all sorts of language in the opinion about the reforms actually having the impact that we're looking for so why is this time different because because the court the department others taking a look at this and who have been uh not shy about citing problems in the past they've found this progress thank you two other issues I'm going to raise briefly um first um the importance the urgency of the nonprofit security grant program uh as your testimony highlights anti-semitic and anti-muslim hate crimes uh have risen sharply in the United States um following Hamas October 7th ATT tax in Israel and I think it's urgent that we add several hundred million dollars to the nonprofit security grant program whether in the supplemental or in our regular Appropriations process and I'm hoping that my colleagues many of whom co-sponsor the platform accountability and transparency act will recognize that the the huge wave um globally of views of Hamas circulated social media content in the wake of October 7th um deserves a tough look about whether the algorith used by soci social media platforms promoted this content whether it was targeted uh to certain groups a last point I'll makeing closing director that um your written testimony says that um economic Espionage and foreign intelligence gathering by the PRC present and I think I'm quoting the greatest long-term threat to our nation's ideas Innovation and economic security I couldn't agree more um I think it's critical that our response to IP theft by the PRC and other players be coordinated I'm glad and the FBI's leading investigations for the doj and the Commerce disruptive technology Strike Force in collaboration uh and I am urging uh our caucus leader to take up and confirm the nominee for the intellectual property enforcement coordinator Deborah Robinson a position that has been vacant for far too long director thank you for your testimony today and for your service thanks Senator Senator Lee thank you Mr chairman thank you director Ray for being here in a report issued uh Declassified in August of 2021 the Director of National Intelligence stated quote FBI Personnel conducted multiple queries of an individual who had the same last name as the FBI Personnel conducting the query and on further investigation what they learned was that this uh query was made after this uh Analyst at the FBI had a conversation with his own mother and his mother expressed ex suspicions about his father having an affair cheating uh uh on her having an affair with another woman and so as a result of that um they looked into it and this particular analyst admitted that he ran the queries because of this tip from his mother that his dad was having an affair uh and because I've got a lot of material to cover i' I'd appreciate if you could give me a yes or no answer to this was that analyst terminated uh I'm not sure that I can recall the specific instance that you're talking about so I'll have to go look at that and follow back up with you on that and do you know whether the analyst security clearance would have been revoked uh again same answer but let me check into that and we'll we'll Circle back to whatever we can share let me ask you to you this way uh yes or no uh would abuse of section 702 by an FBI employee would that be something that would warrant the revocation of security clearance well certainly abuse uh I think we'd have to know what the circumstances were sometimes people have used terms like abuse in this discussion when it's been something other than what I would call abuse but there have been that's why we have this accountability procedures that have cascading this example that I've given you is abuse I assume you would not disagree with that now the September of 2023 PE clob report disclosed two additional intentional incidents uh intentional wrong searches from 2022 one instance from 2022 in which two analysts conducted queries seeking information about a person who was a potential tenant of a rental property owned by one of the analysts and another instance from 2022 in which an NSA analyst conducted queries on two occasions seeking information about two individuals that the analyst himself had met through an online dating service were the FBI employees who conducted those two illegal searches were they terminated well you lost me there for a minute you referred to an NSA analyst uh yeah yeah so NSA analyst do you know whether anyone at the NSA uh was disciplined for that and if they worked at the FBI would they be subject to discipline well I don't want to get into hypotheticals but as far as NSA analysts I think that would be a question for for NSA now were FBI employees U involved in those uh and if they had been would their security clearances have been terminated again I I don't want to get into hypotheticals but we have uh we have both the disciplinary process which is separate from the security clearance process and somebody who uh takes uh who engages in a compliance violation related to 702 could be relevant to both I understand I I I would hope that the default answer would be yes they'd be subject to having their security clearance stripped and be subject to dismissal now in an April 20222 opinion the the foreign intelligence surveillance Court noted the following searches of Americans Communications 19,000 donors to a particular congression campaign 133 Americans participating in civil unrest and protests uh in the summer of 2020 and um Americans who were in the vicinity of the capital uh not necessarily inside the capital but in the vicinity of the capital on January 6 2021 the dni's semi semiannual assessment of section 702 disclosed illegal queries conducted in 2019 to 2020 quote using only the name of a US Congressman the fisa court discl closed two particularly egregious searches from 2022 in June of 2022 an analyst conducted four queries of 702 information using the last names of a US senator and of a state senator without further limitation on October 25th 202022 a staff operation specialist ran a query using the social security number of a state judge who had quote complained to FBI about alleged civil rights violations perpetrated by a municipal chief of police close quote were the FBI employees who conducted those illegal searches terminated or did they have their security clearances stripped yes or no again I don't know that I can speak to specific instances but what I can tell you and I this is important to this exchange is that all of the instances you just listed off all involve conduct that occurred before the reforms that before the reforms you put in place reforms the text of which we don't even have access to reforms that you've put in place I've been on this committee for 13 years during the entirety of those 13 years I've expressed concerns to FBI directors appointed by presidents of both political parties and three different presidential administrations every darn one of them has told me the same thing don't worry about it we've got this taken care of we've got new procedures it's going to be different now it's never different you haven't changed and you keep referring to these policies these new procedures we haven't seen that we're not even allowed to have access to it and we have abolutely no reason to trust you because you haven't behaved in a manner that's trustworthy you can't even as we sit here tell me that people who intentionally knowingly deliberately violated the civil rights of American citizens that that they were fired or that they had their security clearance stripped now in 2022 FBI and other agencies searched Americans Communications over 200,000 times only 16 of which were evidence of a crime only searches that returned information I'd like to ask you to to give it a yes or a no answer to these questions were the three related batch queries consisting of over 23,000 separate queries relating to the events of January 6th were those evidence of a crime only queries yes or no uh I don't know the answer to that I the answer is no I I do know the answer the answer is no were there 141 queries for the activists arrested in connection with the George Floyd protests uh here in Washington DC evidence of a crime only queries those were non-compliant queries uh and again they all predate the reforms that we've put in place which whicho other reforms that ever other FBI directors have told me about every darn year how about the 19,000 donors to a political campaign the answer there is no what about the query for a sitting member of Congress the answer there is no what about the query involving a US senator which for all we know could be any one of us the answer is no and so what what does that tell me well what I'm hearing and what these data points all point to is that a warrant requirement or prohibition relating to quote unquote evidence of a crime only queries would not have been uh something that would have prevented any of the most egregious examples of the abuse that we've seen under Section 702 so the FBI is already required to obtain a court order in some circumstances before accessing the contents of Americans Communications in the context of 702 they were already required for that in some circumstances since 2018 how many times has that requirement been triggered according to government reporting do you know you talking about the so-called F2 yeah uh how many times has it been triggered yes I think it I think there have been two instances where I think is maybe the number 103 103 times it's been triggered and out of those 103 identified times the FBI should have obtained a court order how many times did the FBI actually obtain one do you know that I think the answer is none zero so you're telling me that the FBI has completely ignored the limited court order requirement that it's already subjected to you have the audacity to come here and you told us that getting adding a warrant requirement to 702 even for queries involving us persons on us soil that that would amount to some sort of unilateral disarmament that you have a lot of G sir this is disgraceful the fourth amendment requires more than that and you know it I know every single time for centuries even prior to the founding of this country there were similar protections built into the laws of the United Kingdom before we became a country even then the government was making the same darn argument you're making today which is it's too hard this would make it hard for the government it's why we have a constitution sir and you must comply with it Mr chairman may I respond [Music] briefly when you ask why are things different this time I would point you again to the findings of the court and the department themselves both of which have not been shy about identifying some of the same instances that you cited in our colloquy they themselves have observed the effectiveness of the reforms which is why the uh pre versus post date of the reforms becomes very significant so that's number one second second uh as to your claims about constitutionality I would point you back to what the case law actually shows on this subject which is that no court has found 702 in its current form to be uh unconstitutional and every Court to have looked at it has found it to be constitutional and last Point how lucky for you because no one has standing to do that no one knows when they're being surveilled yeah that is not an argument sir last Point Mr chairman uh is that in some of the instances and you went through a number in your questions in some of the instances in particular that I know about those are instances where the queries were run in order to get to a public official member of Congress to warn them about foreign influences targeting them and it warrant would not have enabled that we call those consent searches and consent searches do not require a warrant sir and you know that there is nothing that you have done that is not entirely within the FBI control and supervision you're asking me to believe something that is not believable because your your agency has made it unbelievable and I refuse to accept it thanks Mr chairman uh thank you for being here today and thank you to you and the thousands of FBI agents who are right now out there trying to keep us safe I think think we've often failed to express our gratitude to law enforcement and I know how dedicated and hardworking there are so uh that is uh something that should go without saying but it's worth saying uh Mr director I I want to focus on Election interference which is in my view one of the most pressing and important threats to our democracy that election interference threatens particularly the presidential election in 2024 there's a lot of talk about the dire effects potentially of the outcome in 2024 and the countries of China Russia other foreign adversaries we're not talking here about Kamas or a terrorist organization nation states interfering in our election process to pick winners that are more favorable to them there's no secret here no mystery about who would be more favorable to Vladimir Putin or toqi in Ukraine or Taiwan and uh I'd like to know from you whether you view election interference by these nations as a Potential Threat in the coming presidential election uh we're we're keenly focused on the risk that foreign adversaries uh whether it's Russia whether it's China whether it's Iran or others uh would seek to interfere uh in our elections you've said that all threats are elevated at exactly the same time this one seems to me much more elevated than we've seen in any recent election am I right I think it's fair to say that they are elevated uh from where they were before and and just to elaborate just slightly on that point obviously we saw and it's not disputed that the Russians tried to interfere in the in the 2016 election uh and then continued but what we've seen since then is other adversaries attempting to take a page out of the Russians Playbook which is why for example I point to the U uh press conference that director Ratcliffe and I did in the fall of 2020 about the Iranians efforts to interfere in that election uh more recently we've had an indictment in involving the Chinese government attempting in a very uh aggressive way to interfere in a particular Congressional candidacy um first trying to dig up dirt on the candidate then when they couldn't find it to make up dirt on the candidate and then when they couldn't find that uh openly talking about how to uh inflict physical violence on the candidate that's a pretty Stark form of election interference you are focused rightly on this problem as an urgent and exent one for the United States of America correct yes sir and what can we do in Congress to support this effort what additional powers do you need do you need more resources seems to me that our democracy is on the line here and all of the speechmaking all the rhetoric that we're expressing today go for not if we lose our democracy because China Russia Iran these nation states have a free feel to interfere with our election well I I think there's a couple things there's on the money side uh in terms of Appropriations we are not in an environment where any of the threats uh that we're seeing as part of my exchange with Senator Graham are going backwards uh they're all elevated and increasing uh so now is not a time to go backwards in terms of the funding uh of the FBI across cyber Counter Intelligence and a whole host of other issues but second we've talked about 702 7 2 is of course focused on foreign adversaries many of these same intelligence Services uh and their ability to engage in malicious foreign intelligence operations and and that's why reauthorizing 702 in a form where it can be used is important to that threat among a whole host of other foreign threats uh there are now uh fifth circuit decisions the courts are making decisions that if upheld would create additional op obstacles to your enforcement against foreign interference are you concerned about the fifth circuit saying in effect that you can't communicate with social media to alert them to threats well of course as you know this is the subject of uh ongoing litigation uh the uh findings of the lower courts in that litigation uh are things that are hotly contested uh through the Department's filings uh and uh as you know the department has asked the Supreme Court to not only stay uh that injunction but to Grant C and it has done both uh I will say I think this is important for people to know it is not seriously disputed that our foreign adversaries have tried and are continuing to try to interfere uh in our elections and it is not seriously disputed that those foreign adversaries are using social media including you social media platforms as part of that effort and historically our work in this space has enjoyed widespread bipartisan support in fact president Trump himself rightly uh in 2018 or 19 uh issued an executive order on this very subject calling it a National Emergency the Senate intelligence committee on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis identified much the same and called for more engagement more engagement with social media compan comp not less the key the key is making sure that it's done in the right way and that's what we're committed to do focus on The Hidden Hand of the foreign actor not on the content itself posted but just so everyone is aware uh director Ray Facebook announced and I'm quoting that the threat sharing by the federal government in the US related to foreign election interference has been paused since July end quote that is a profoundly troubling change that threatens our national security the FBI and other law enforcement and intelligence agencies are in effect handicapped they are straight jacketed by this ruling and on that score and on so many other areas where election interference is not just imminent it's ongoing it's real and Urgent a clear and present ongoing threat to our democracy and I hope that my colleagues will heed your warning it's expressed in characteristically understated terms but I think it is a profoundly important warning to this committee and to the country let me uh ask you about just in the brief time I have left hate crimes the rising incidents I am deeply Disturbed as are many of my colleagues about what's happening on college campuses Free Speech has a place obviously on campuses intimidation physical threats violence do not are you satisfied that the leadership of our colleges and universities are doing enough to stop violence and physical intimidation well it's hard to paint with a broad brush uh I know that we are working more closely than ever with leadership of universities to try to increase their awareness and their resolve on this subject um and we now have campus liaison UH responsibilities assigned to a specific agent in every field office to try to as part of that effort um and certainly we have seen uh transnational repression for example from some of these same foreign adversaries we were just talking about occurring uh on campuses and not just in other parts of America have you seen Hamas do that I'd have to think about that one uh spec respond in writing thank you Mr chairman thanks Senator blumthal Senator Cruz thank you Mr chairman director Ray welcome as you know I am deeply concerned about the conduct of both the Department of Justice and the FBI particularly in the last three years during the Biden Administration I think the Department of Justice has been profoundly politicized under attorney general merri Garland and I think the FBI has as well and unfortunately I think you've been unwilling to stand up to senior career officials in the FBI who's allowed the FBI to be politicized I'll tell you I regularly speak with FBI agents across the country who are unhappy about the Integrity of the institution being weakened because because doj is being treated as a political weapon I want to talk in particular about the investigation into multiple allegations of corruption concerning Hunter Biden and Joe Biden sorry because the Department of Justice has I think from the outset tried at every step to stop investigation into corruption from Joe Biden as you're aware he a WhatsApp text message was sent to Henry Zhao a senior Chinese Communist from Hunter Biden that reads as follows I sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand and now means tonight and Z if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you Zang or the chairman I will make certain that between the man sitting next to me and every person he knows and my ability to hold a grudge that you will regret not following my direction I am sitting here waiting for the call with my father now Democrats and those in the media trying to defend the White House repeatedly say there is no direct evidence of Joe Biden's involvement in his son's corruption well this is a text that is direct evidence that is stating that it is his father that is going to retaliate now an IRS whistleblower Gary shapley testified before the House of Representatives that the natural step he wanted to follow was to determine whether Joe Biden was in fact sitting next to his father when this threat was made to extort millions of dollars from a Chinese Communist and what the IRS whistleblower testified is that when he tried to find out whether Joe Biden was sitting next to Hunter that the doj blocked getting the GPS data on Joe Biden's phone did the FBI try to assertain where Hunter Biden was and where Joe Biden was when this text was sent well I think the questions you're asking uh go to the ongoing investigation being led by special counsel Weiss and so I'm not going to be able to discuss what is or isn't in scope so look there's been testimony under oath from the IRS whistleblower that you did not seek the GPS data and you're right David Weiss the special prosecutor is in charge of it and it is David Weiss and his underlings who the according to the IRS whistleblowers have alleged that they're the ones trying to stop the investigation they allow the statute of limitations to run on many of the most serious violations not only that IRS whistleblower shle testified that on September 3rd assistant us attorney lesie wolf explicitly told in investigators that despite having probable caused to search quote there is no way a search warrant would be approved when the evidence in question was located inside of Vice President Biden's Guest House wolf stated that quote the Optics prevented such a search is the FBI do they make a routine practice of allowing partisan political Optics to prevent investigating serious evidence of corruption my instructions to our people on this and on every other investigation are that we are to follow the facts wherever they lead no matter who likes it no matter what political influence out GPS data on where Hunter Biden and Joe Biden were again Senator with respect I can't discuss an ongo investigation and director Ray you and I have gone round and round on this because I understand anytime you're asked about this the answer is it's an ongoing investigation of course the investigation isn't ongoing you're not doing the work you got whistleblowers pointing out that you're not doing the work and you are hiding behind the skirts of the Attorney General look The Whistleblower also testified that the Attorney General when he came before Congress go to the next chart came before Congress lied under oath to this committee the Attorney General testified to this Committee in response to my questioning I have pledged not to interfere with the hunter Biden investigation I have carried through on that pledge the IRS whistleblowers have alleged the Attorney General lied under oath a felony was the Attorney General telling the truth when he said this do we have the chart we don't have the chart was the Attorney General telling the truth when he said I have pledged not to interfere with the hunter Biden investigation and I have carried through on my pledge again I I can't speak to the attorney general's testimony I can only tell you what my instructions have been to our people has there been political interference in the investigation into Hunter Biden and Joe Biden not that I have experienced were the investigators allowed to investigate whether Joe Biden was complicit in the corruption again there is an ongoing investigation I'm asking you about corruption from doj were they allowed to investigate Joe Biden or is The Whistleblower telling the truth that doj said Joe Biden's off limits no questions about the big guy and as to what is in scope or not in scope of the ongoing investigation I would refer you to special counsel Whit that is not me hiding behind anything Senator that is a long standing policy that has been in place through multiple administrations resp years responsibility to the FBI not to allow it to be a partisan tool a a a and a partisan weapon the testimony and by the way the FBI's done nothing and I have not and I will not have you opened an investigation into whether the Attorney General lied under oath to Congress and whether the Attorney General obstructed Justice I'm not going to go down that road here I I know you're not that's the point nobody thinks you've opened an investigation because you're not willing to and the amazing thing is director Ray I've known you 30 years you're not a partisan Democrat You're simply sitting Bly by while career partisans in your agency allow it to be weaponized and you were damaging the FBI and you are damaging the Department of Justice let me ask you also The Whistleblower testified that investigators wanted to execute a search warrant on a storage unit used by Hunter Biden and instead they tipped off Hunter Biden's lawyer before the search warrant was carried out is it typical FBI practice to tip off the subject of a search warrant before the search warrant so they can remove any evidence that's incriminating what is typical is that when you're dealing with an individual who has a protective detail uh it is typical for agents to be in contact with protective DET detail does the protective detail guard the the storage unit again I can't speak to the storage unit specifically what I can tell you is that when it comes to why would the FBI tip off the subject of a search warrant about the storage unit that was going to be searched beforehand does that not undermine the very essence of an investigation that doj is proring to undertake again I'm not going to be able to discuss specific investigative set is if you're not nobody answers these questions and it's why people are furious with the cover up because you don't believe the FBI is accountable to Congress or to the American people your time is up director Ray has requested a five minute recess five minutes I'll just let me just Senator if I might just quickly respond and then respond go to the break thank you I understand why this is frustrating I do but it is also the case that these policies that I am referring to about my inability to discuss ongoing investigations and certainly internal deliberations related to ongoing investigations are policies that have not only been in place for many many years through multiple administrations of both parties but but in fact these were policies that were actually strengthened under the last Administration and that my predecessor was faulted in a fairly scathing Inspector General report for not following and so I keep that in my mind you have an obligation to call it out engaged in this job thank you have an obligation to call out corruption
