Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie defended FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday amid a House hearing on the latter's alleged weaponization of the bureau.
Christie, who served as the governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018, claimed Wray was a "good guy" who could fix a lot of the problems in the FBI and who has "already fixed" a lot of problems.
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“What you saw today, I think, was an animated and combative FBI director who’s defending the men and women who work for him every day and do a great job and protect us from domestic terrorism, from international terrorism, and from these drug cartels,” Christie told Fox News host John Roberts.
"I think Chris Wray has done a very good job. And I think, look, a lot of the stuff you see today is theater," Christie said. "But I believe Chris is a guy who can get it fixed.”
Chris Christie is defending Chris Wray on Fox News.pic.twitter.com/xSDbw1uS2v
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) July 12, 2023
Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee took turns grilling Wray on Wednesday over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and other accusations of bias in the federal agency.
Among the accusations from the committee was an allegation that the bureau “violated the First Amendment rights of Americans and potentially undermined our national security” by aiding censorship requests for social media companies “on behalf of a Ukrainian intelligence agency.”
Other concerns centered on the FBI's response to parents and the raid of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, last year.
Wray and Christie have been friends for the past 20 years, including when Christie hired Wray to represent him in a scandal during his tenure as New Jersey governor. They also worked together in the Justice Department. Christie added that he was the one that recommended Trump hire Wray as the FBI director.
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“Look, I’ve known Chris for a long time,” Christie said. “We worked together in the Bush Justice Department in the post 9/11 period, and he did an extraordinary job, and yeah, I did recommend them to President Trump, and I’m proud that I did.”
Christie's support of Wray comes in contrast to other Republican hopefuls, including Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and former Vice President Mike Pence, who said they would fire Wray if they were elected president next year.