House Judiciary Committee Republicans gave FBI Director Christopher Wray the opportunity Tuesday to “amend” his testimony that the bureau does not censor free speech.
The Republicans wrote to Wray in a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner that the director’s testimony, which he gave in a congressional hearing last week, was at odds with a recent court ruling that found evidence the FBI had engaged in “substantial censorship.”
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“Your testimony conflicts with the findings of the federal court in Missouri v. Biden, which specifically noted that the FBI flagged domestic speech as potential disinformation and that the FBI ‘significant[ly] encourage[d]’ social media platforms to take certain actions with respect to content,” they wrote.
Wray appeared Wednesday before the committee for a regular oversight hearing during which he rejected claims the FBI pressured social media companies to censor or suppress content.
He said in response to a question from Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) about the ongoing Missouri v. Biden case that the bureau was focused on “foreign hostile actors” seeking to interfere with content found on social media.
“At the end of the day, we [the FBI] are very clear that it’s up to the social media companies to do something or not,” Wray said.
The Republicans cited several examples found in Judge Terry A. Doughty’s sweeping 155-page ruling, including that the FBI flagged “domestic disinformation” for social media companies in the lead up to the 2020 election.
The FBI “made no attempt to distinguish” between alleged disinformation being foreign or domestic, Doughty wrote.
The Republicans also noted Doughty’s finding that the FBI “likely misled social-media companies into believing the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation, which resulted in suppression of the story.”
The lawmakers provided copies of emails they had obtained, including one from an FBI agent asking Facebook as recently as March to confirm the platform had removed certain accounts.
“This discrepancy between your testimony and the information we have obtained leads us to conclude that either you misled the Committee about the FBI’s interactions with social media companies or that you were not fully aware of the egregious and unconstitutional actions of the FBI you administer," they wrote.
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They added, "Accordingly, we invite you to amend your testimony,” which is currently documented in the congressional record as Wray initially delivered it.
The Republicans’ correspondence to Wray comes one day after Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) warned the director that he must “substantially improve his compliance” with multiple subpoenas or face the prospect of contempt charges.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the FBI for comment.