FBI Director Christopher Wray Warns Russia Is Trying To Influence The 2024 Election

3 months ago

At a House Judiciary Committee hearing held last week, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) questioned FBI Director Chris Wray about Russia and the election.

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Transcript

00:00The gentleman from California is recognized.

00:03Director, we're about 100 days until the election.

00:07Russia has attacked our democracy in past elections.

00:11Are they seeking to do it in this one?

00:15We assess that the Russian government

00:18continues to want to influence

00:22and in various ways interfere with our democracy,

00:26with our electoral process.

00:27In fact, just in the last few weeks,

00:31we announced a significant disruption

00:34of a generative AI-enhanced social media,

00:40you know, bot farm, essentially, of the Russians

00:44that was designed to be an influence operation

00:48and some of the fake, fictitious profiles

00:51of those bots purported to be US persons.

00:55So they're still at it.

00:57We've seen that in election cycle after election cycle.

01:00Do the Russians have a preferred candidate?

01:03I'm not sure that I could speak to that here,

01:06but certainly what I would tell you is

01:08it's not just the Russians.

01:09And I think that's important for people to know, too.

01:11There's a lot of attention to the Russians,

01:12as there should be.

01:15But we also know, you may recall,

01:18that in 2020, Director Ratcliffe and I

01:21announced an effort by the Iranians to try to interfere.

01:25And more recently, we've had indictments related to China.

01:2934 Chinese MPS officers creating fictitious personas,

01:38posting false information online,

01:42full of narratives designed to sow divisiveness,

01:44discord, undermine us.

01:46And I'm talking about narratives that they were pushing,

01:49again, purporting to be Americans,

01:51but actually Chinese MPS officers, for example,

01:54trashing any suggestion that COVID came from a lab leak,

01:59or trashing U.S. law enforcement

02:03on the occasion of the anniversary of George Floyd's death.

02:08And shifting to the attempted assassination

02:11on the former president, I want to make it clear,

02:13in America, violence has never been the answer,

02:17not on a certain day in January or a recent day in July.

02:23And I just want to go through the shooting,

02:25just briefly, with you.

02:26How many armed officers were within the perimeter,

02:31just ballpark figure?

02:33You know, that really goes to the security posture,

02:35which is the subject of the DHS Inspector General's review

02:40and the outside panel, independent panel that's-

02:43Would you say probably more than 100, though?

02:46I have to believe that number, but again,

02:48I don't have that number at my fingertips.

02:50Our focus is on the shooter and his attack.

02:53And the shooter was able to get eight shots off

02:55before he was killed?

02:56That's what it would appear, yes.

02:58Type of weapon used by the shooter was an assault rifle?

03:02Was an AR-style rifle.

03:03So that means one trigger pull, one round, is that right?

03:07Essentially.

03:08Do you like to shoot?

03:09Do I?

03:10Yeah.

03:11Yes.

03:12Do you know the difference between an AR

03:14and a bolt-action rifle?

03:16I'm not going to try it.

03:17I sit here and engage on sort of firearms expertise,

03:20but I've fired a variety of weapons.

03:24Had the shooter used a bolt-action rifle,

03:25would that have been one trigger pull, one round?

03:29That's my understanding.

03:31Would there had to have been more,

03:33well, on an assault rifle, trigger pull, round,

03:36trigger pull, round, bolt-action, non-assault rifle,

03:40what's the difference?

03:40Is it faster, slower?

03:43He was able to get more rounds off more quickly

03:46than he would have with other kinds of weapons.

03:49And that's my point, is that

03:51we can add additional resources

03:54to protect political candidates, and we should.

03:57The people who went to that rally

03:59deserved to be protected from gun violence,

04:03just like the students at Parkland

04:04deserve to be protected from gun violence,

04:07just like the babies at Sandy Hook

04:09deserve to be protected from gun violence.

04:12So we'll devote more resources.

04:14We've added a presidential candidate

04:16who is also now protected.

04:18But if we're being honest with ourselves,

04:21we have armed this country to the teeth,

04:25and we have allowed the most dangerous people

04:29to have access to the most dangerous weapons.

04:32I say that as a parent of a seven-year-old

04:34and a five-year-old and a two-year-old,

04:35the two oldest who have done multiple

04:37mass shooter drills in their classrooms.

04:39I say that as a brother to two police officers

04:41who walk a very violent beat,

04:44and I say that as an elected official

04:46who believes that my colleagues deserve

04:48to be as safe as I deserve to be

04:51when we are at political rallies.

04:53And so we really need to step back and think,

04:55if we allow these weapons to be in our country,

04:58can we truly protect our elected officials,

05:01and can we truly protect, most importantly,

05:04our children and the next generation?

05:05I yield back.

05:08Gentleman yields back.

FBI Director Christopher Wray Warns Russia Is Trying To Influence The 2024 Election

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