Chair Durbin, Judiciary Dems Converse With FBI Director About Domestic Terrorism Threat

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, along with several Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray requesting information on the FBI’s response to the ongoing threat of domestic terrorism in the United States. The letter comes ahead of an FBI oversight hearing next Tuesday, March 2, in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Wray will testify for the first time since the January 6 insurrection. In light of reports that make clear that the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrectionists included and were in some cases organized by adherents of violent right-wing extremist groups, Durbin and the members pressed the FBI to provide answers on how the Bureau is allocating its resources to respond to and address the threat of violence by white supremacists and other right-wing extremists.

“Unfortunately, the FBI appears to have taken steps in recent years that minimize the threat of white supremacist and far-right violence, a grave concern that some of us have raised with you on numerous occasions in recent years,” wrote Durbin and the Senators. “Additional reporting suggests that the FBI, at the behest of Trump appointees, diverted resources to investigate left-wing movements at the expense of adequately addressing the threat of violence by white supremacists and other right-wing extremists. These reports raise serious concerns about whether the FBI is allocating law enforcement and intelligence resources in a manner that reflects the scale of the threat posed by violent white supremacists, whom DHS has called ‘the most persistent and lethal threat in the Homeland.’”

The Senators requested answers to a series of questions in order to inform oversight that the Judiciary Committee is conducting of the FBI’s handling of the domestic terrorism threat.

Joining Durbin in signing today’s letter include: U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chris Coons (D-DE), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Alex Padilla (D-CA).