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June 26, 2020

Chairman Thompson Demands FBI Director Provide Documents and Agree to Testify

(WASHINGTON) – Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray regarding multiple requests for briefings and documents that have yet to be fulfilled by the FBI.  The Committee has tried to resolve these issues to no avail, with the FBI failing to even schedule a requested telephone call between Chairman Thompson and Director Wray to discuss the long overdue requests.

To date, the FBI has failed to:

  • Provide documents on the FBI’s past work, including intelligence assessments, pertaining to “Black Identity Extremism,” with requests outstanding since 2019.
  • Provide a briefing on the involvement and infiltration into the recent protests happening across the country by extremists, including those associated with the ‘Boogaloo’ ideology (DHS has also failed to provide this briefing).
  • Agree to testify at the Committee’s yearly worldwide threats hearing alongside the Acting Homeland Security Secretary and National Counterterrorism Center Director. 

Chairman Thompson wrote: “The FBI’s repeated failure to produce requested documents and provide briefings to the Committee and your apparent refusal to testify in a reasonable timeframe raise questions about whether the FBI is withholding information from Congress and the public regarding extremist threats against the nation. This lack of transparency is particularly disturbing given the many unsubstantiated claims that the Trump Administration has made regarding extremist threats.”

Link to letter to FBI

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