(NewsNation) — One of the congressmen who questioned FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday is Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., a member of the House Judiciary Committee. McClintock says he was “generally disappointed” with Wray’s testimony before the committee.
“He at least I think should have acknowledged that many millions of Americans are deeply concerned over a perceived double standard in the way the laws are being applied,” McClintock said on “The Hill on NewsNation” after the hearing. “He doesn’t necessarily have to agree with those criticisms, but I think he at least needed to acknowledge them and say we’re sensitive to this, we know … we have to be above reproach.”
Wray defended the work of his agency at the hearing Wednesday where he faced some of his main critics.
Arguing in his opening statement that the agency’s work goes beyond “one or two investigations that seem to capture all the headlines,” Wray talked about arrests the FBI has made in the last year of more than “20,000 violent criminals and child predators,” and how it is going after drug cartels along the southern border.
However, Republicans accused Wray and the FBI of using the agency as a political weapon and targeting conservatives.
McClintock and other Republicans have pointed to the Justice Department’s indictment of former President Donald Trump, but not Hillary Clinton, as evidence of a so-called “two-tiered justice system.” Critics also contend prosecutors have not pursued the Biden family over an alleged bribery scheme.
After the hearing, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., was among those who called for Wray to be impeached.
McClintock called that “loose talk,” but did indicate his support for the end of Wray’s tenure as director if a new president takes office in January 2025. The FBI directorship is a 10-year term, and Wray was appointed by Trump in 2017.
“I don’t think that Mr. Wray, at least based on presentation we saw today and the conduct of his time as director of the FBI … should continue in that post,” McClintock said. “We’re gonna need somebody who can restore confidence.”
NewsNation staff contributed to this report.