Transcripts For CSPAN FBI Director Defends Decision To Revea

I dont know when the time is 10 30 or 10 45, but theres a vote scheduled on the senate floor. Its my intention to keep the going during that vote and well take turns going. So somebody needs to be here presiding while i go vote, and i will run over and run back, and we will do the questioning according to the fall of the gavel, or early birds, whichever rule applies. Director comey, welcome. We thank the fbi for what it does to keep america safe. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the fbi since the last time you were here in 2015. In march, you publicly acknowledged the fbi is investigating allegations of coordination between the Trump Campaign and russias efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. Under president obamas order, former dni clapper had been in charge of the Intelligence Communitys view of that inference. Mr. Clapper testified that president obama asked the Intelligence Community to compile all available information after he left office. Mr. Clapper said there was no evidence of collusion whatsoever. The New York Times reported that american officials found no proof of collusion. So where is all this speculation about collusion coming from . In january, buzzfeed published a dossier spinning wild conspiracy theories about the Trump Campaign. Buzzfeed acknowledged that the claims were unverified and some of the details were clearly wrong. Buzzfeed has since been sued for publishing them. Since then, much of the dossier has been proven wrong, and many of its outlandish claims have failed to gain traction. For example, no one is looking for moles or russian agents embedded in the dnc, yet some continue to quote parts of this document as if it were gospel truth. According to press reports, the fbi has relied on the document to justify its current investigation. There have been reports that the fbi agreed to pay the author of the dossier, who paid his sources, who also paid their subsources. Where did the money come from, and what motivated the people writing the checks . The company that oversaw the dossiers creation, fusion gsp, wont speak to that point either. Its founder Glenn Simpson is refusing to cooperate with this companys committees investigation and inquiry. His company is also the subject of a complaint to the Justice Department. That complain alleges that fusion worked as an unregistered Foreign Agent for russian interests and with a former Russian Intelligence Agency at the time it worked on the dossier. It was filed with the Justice Department in july, long before the the dossier came out. The man who wrote the dossier admitted in court that it has unverified claims. Does that sound like a reliable basis for Law Enforcement or intelligence actions . Unfortunately, the fbi has provided me materially inconsistent information about these issues. That is why we need to know more about it. How much the fbi relied on it once you buy into the claim of collusion, then suddenly every interaction with a russian can be twisted to seem like confirmation of a Conspiracy Theory. I, obviously, dont know what the fbi will find. For the good of the country, i hope that the fbi gets to the truth soon, whatever that truth or that answer may be. If there are wrong doers, they should be punished, and the innocent should have their names cleared. And in the meantime, this committee is charged with the oversight of the fbi, and we cant wait until this is all over to ask the hard questions. Otherwise, too many people will have no confidence in fbis conclusions. The public needs to know what role the dossier has played and where it came from. And we need to know whether there was anything improper going on between the Trump Campaign and the russians or are , these mere allegations just a partisan Smear Campaign that manipulated our government into chasing a Conspiracy Theory . Now before the election and before we knew about this notorious dossier, you, chairman comey, publicly released his findings that secretary clinton was extremely careless in the handling of classified information and this recommendation has and his recommendation that no one be prosecuted. According to a recent New York Times article, he did it partly because he knew the russians had a hacked email from a democrat operative that might be released before the election. That email reportedly provided assurances that attorney general lynch would protect secretary clinton and make sure the fbi didnt go too far. Despite attorney general lynchs connection to the clintons and her now famous conversation with former president clinton during the election she failed to recuse herself she was effectively had it both ways. She would be uninvolved but remain in control of the ultimate outcome. Areover, in the haste to end tough politically charged investigation, the fbi failed to follow up on credible evidence of the intent to hide federal records from the congress and the public. It is a federal crime, as we know, to willfully and unlawfully conceal, remove or destroy a federal record. That, theey said fbi also discovered several thousands workrelated emails, that secretary clinton did not turn over to the state department he said the secretary clintons lawyers, cleaned their devices in such a way as to preclude complete Forensic Recovery of additional emails. The Justice Department also entered into immunity agreements limiting the scope of the investigation. Some of the agreements prohibited the fbi from reviewing any emails on the laptops of the clinton aides that were created outside of secretary clintons tenure at state. Any emails would not have been created until after she left office during the congressional fbi reviews. Even those these records were subject to congressional subpoena and preservation records, the Justice Department agreed to destroy the laptops. A cloud of doubt hangs over the fbi objective it he. The directors said the people at the fbi do not give a rip about politics, but the director as deputyat director a man whose wife ran for elected office and accepted almost a Million Dollars from Governor Terry mcauliffe, a long time friend of the clintons and democratic party. And Andrew Mccabe reportedly met a person about his wifes political plans. He did not recuse himself from the clinton investigations or the russian matter despite the , obvious appearance of conflict. The Inspector General is reviewing these issues, but once again the people deserve answers , and the fbi has not provided those answers. We need the fbi to be accountable because we need the , fbi to be effective. Its mission is to protect us from the most dangerous threats and since theion, director was last here the drumbeat of attacks on the United States from those directed or inspired by isis and other islamic terrorists has continued. For example, in june 2016, a terrorist killed 49 and wounded orlando frequented , by gay and lesbian community. It was the most deadly attack in the United States soil since 9 11. But long afterwards, in september a terrorist stabbed 10 at a mall in minneapolis and , another terrorist injured 31 after he detonated bombs in new jersey and new york city. And in november, a terrorist injured 13 after driving into students and teachers at ohio state university. Our allies have been immuned either, as we read in the newspaper frequently. We recall the tragedy of july 16th when terrorists drove a truck through a crowd in france , killing over 80 people. So, we in the congress, need to make sure that the fbi has the tools it needs to prevent and investigate terrorism as well as other serious Violent Crimes. These tools must adapt to both evolving technology and threats, while preserving our Civil Liberties. I hope we can hear from the director about the fbis use of some of these tools that may require congress attention. Most obviously the fisa section , 702 authority is up for reauthorization at the end of the year. This authority provides the government the ability to collect the Electronic Communications of foreigners outside the United States with a compelled assistance of american companies. And the bush and Obama Administrations were strongly supportive of 702, and now the Trump Administration is as well. From all accounts, the law has proven to be highly effective in helping to protect the United States and our allies. The privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board and many other federal courts have found section 702 constitutional and consistent with our fourth amendment. Yet, questions and concerns persist for many about its effects on our Civil Liberties, specifically in the way the fbi queries Data Collected under section 702. In addition, the director has spoken out often about how the use of encryption by terrorists and criminals is eroding the effectiveness of one of the fbis core investigative tools, a warrant based on probable cause. I look forward to an update from you, director comey, on going dark problem. Im also waiting for answers from the fbis advanced knowledge of an attempted terrorist attack 2015 garland, texas. Fortunately the attack was , interrupted by local Police Officers, but not before a guard was shot. After the attack, the director claimed that the fbi did not have advanced knowledge of it , but it was recently revealed that an undercover fbi agent was in close communication with one of the attackers in the weeks leading up to the attack. The undercover agent was in a car directly behind the attacker when they started shooting and fled the scene. The committee needs clarity on what the fbi knew, whether there were plans to disrupt any of attack, and whether it shared enough information with local Law Enforcement. And, obviously, you expect me to always remind you about whistleblowers. Finally, as you know the fbi , whistleblower enhancement act became law december 2016. It clarified fbi employees are protected when they disclose wrong doing to their supervisors. In we learned that the fbi has april, not updated its policy and done much to educate employees on the new law. The Inspector General gave the fbi updated training this past employees who know theyre january. Protected are more likely to come forward with evidence of waste, fraud, and abuse. They should not have to wait many months to be trained on such a significant change in their rights and their protections. And these are all important issues, and i look forward to discussing them with you, director comey. The publics faith in the fbi, congress and our democratic , process has been tested lately. Oversight and transparency hopefully will restore that faith. You may take as long as you want, senator. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. As you stated, this is the committees annual oversight hearing to conduct that oversight of the fbi. So usually we review and ask questions about the fbis work that ranges from major federal Law Enforcement priorities to the specific concerns of individual members of the committee. However, this hearing takes place at a unique time. Last year, for the first time, the fbi and its investigation of a candidate for president became the center of the closing days of a president ial election. Before voters went to the polls last november, they had been inundated with stories about the fbis investigation of senator clintons emails. The press coverage was wall to wall. Every day there was another story about secretary clintons emails. Every day, questions were released every day questions were raised about whether classified information had been released or compromised. And over and over again there was commentary from the fbi about its actions and investigation. 2016, two months before the election, director comey publicly announced that the fbi had concluded its investigation and determined , that no reasonable prosecutor would bring a case against secretary clinton. That should have been the end of the story, but it wasnt. 11 days before the election on director comey then announced october 20 8, 2016, that the fbi was reopening the clinton investigation because of emails , on anthony wieners computer. This explosive announcement and it was came unprompted and without knowing whether a single email warranted a new investigation. It was, in fact, a big october surprise. But, in fact, as it turned out, not one email on the laptop changed the fbis original conclusion that no prosecution was warranted. And only two days before the election, the fbi sent another public letter to congress affirming its original conclusion. This was extraordinary, plain and simple. I join those who believe that the actions taken by the fbi did, in fact, have an impact on the election. Whats worse, is that while all of this was going on in the public spotlight, while the fbi was discussing its investigation into senator clintons email server in detail, i cannot help but note that it was noticeably silent about the investigation into the Trump Campaign and russian interference into the election. In june 2016, the press reported that Russian Hackers had infiltrated the Computer System of the Democratic National committee. In response, then candidate trump and his Campaign Began goading the russian government into hacking secretary clinton. Two months later, in august on twitter, roger stone declared, trust me, it will soon be podestas time in the barrel. He then bragged that he was in communication with wikileaks, and this was during a campaign the campaign in florida, he told a group of Florida Republicans that founder, Julian Assange, said founder Julian Assange and that there would be no telling what the october surprise might be. Clearly he knew what he was , talking about. Two months later, on october 7 thousands of emails from , John Podestas account were published on wikileaks. We now know that through the fall election, the fbi was actively investigating russias efforts to interfere with the president ial campaign and possible involvement of Trump Campaign officials in those efforts. Yet, the fbi remained silent. In fact, the fbi suamarally refused to acknowledge any investigation. Its still very unclear and i hope, director, that you will clear this up why the fbis treatment of these two investigations was so dramatically different. With the clinton email investigation, it has been said circumstancesal including a high interest in the matter and the need to reassure the public required Public Comment from the fbi. However, i cant imagine how an unprecedented big and bold hacking interference in our election by the russian government did not also present exceptional circumstances. As i said at the beginning were in a unique time. A foreign adversary actively interfered with a president ial election. The fbi was investigating not just that interference, but whether Campaign Officials associated with the president were connected to this interference. And the attorney general has recused himself from any involvement in this investigation. At the same time, the fbi must continue to work with its state and local Law Enforcement and Law Enforcement partners to investigate crime of all types Violent Crime, increased narcotic trafficking, fraud, human trafficking, terrorism, child exploitation, public corruption, and yesterday this committee had a very important hearing on hate and crimes against specific religions and races, which are off the charts. In order to do all of that, i firmly believe its of the utmost importance that the American People have faith and trust in the nations top Law Enforcement agency. We must be assured that all of the fbis decisions are made in justice, not in the interest of any political agenda, or reputation of any one agency or individual. So, mr. Director today we need , to hear how the fbi will regain that faith and trust. We need straightforward answers to our questions. And we want to hear how youre going to lead the fbi Going Forward. We never ever want anything like this to happen again. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Director comey, id like to swear you in at this you affirm point. That the testimony youre about to give before the committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth , so help you god . ,thank you, very much. As the old saying goes for somebody as famous as you you , dont need any introductions so im going to just introduce you as director of the federal bureau of investigation. Once again, thank you for being here today and we look forward to your testimony and answer to our questions. You may begin. Chairman. Ou, mr. Senator feinstein, members of the committee, thank you for havi