Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., panned FBI Director Christopher Wray's testimony before the House Committee on Appropriations Thursday afternoon, calling the agency "eroded" and Wray an "apologist."
At the hearing titled the "Fiscal Year 2025 Request for the Federal Bureau of Investigation," Wray's opening statement made the case for an $11.3 billion request to go toward "the FBI's national security, intelligence, criminal law enforcement, and criminal justice services missions."
"We must here in Congress ... assure that national security is as strong as it needs to be," Meuser said. "But at the same note, we are going to protect the freedoms of the American people. ... And we have to do it a on a plan that accomplishes both."
He called Wray's pitch for money from Congress "disingenuous."
"I think we all want the FBI to be strong and to be able to do its job in the manner that it was designed and what their mission is — no question. But under Christopher Wray's leadership, confidence in the FBI has been eroded — from the Hunter Biden laptop to gaining information ... that should have been made available to the general public.
"They have not earned the right to and have shown themselves to be unworthy of the idea that a warrantless investigation or home intrusion should be permitted because you're with the FBI or the DOJ [Departmennt of Justice]. We have the Fourth Amendment. That's what comes first."
Meuser called Wray "an apologist for the FBI."
"You're not taking any blame or looking at some of the problems that need to be corrected," he said.
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