--- title: Trump-Appointed FBI Director Punches Back Against GOP Attack description: Christopher Wray found himself defending all of federal law enforcement as House Republicans accused him of doing Biden's bidding canonical: https://time.com/6294244/fbi-christopher-wray-house-republicans-trump/ author: Eric Cortellessa article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-07-12T21:24:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:51:05.327Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump-Appointed FBI Head Denies He Is Doing Biden's Bidding og:description: “The idea that I’m biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background,” Christopher Wray, the Trump-appointed FBI director, told his fellow House Republicans. og:url: https://time.com/6294244/fbi-christopher-wray-house-republicans-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1954f621535ed9fb/698a3ea216d8843cd6c3c078/GettyImages-1527949929.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump-Appointed FBI Head Denies He Is Doing Biden's Bidding twitter:description: “The idea that I’m biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background,” Christopher Wray, the Trump-appointed FBI director, told his fellow House Republicans. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1954f621535ed9fb/698a3ea216d8843cd6c3c078/GettyImages-1527949929.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump-Appointed FBI Director Punches Back Against Republicans Who Claim He Does Biden’s Bidding > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=4a94f9c7-8b6e-43b3-9e0f-b2144803f691&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME World Report: What's Next For Putin's Power [Watch (HLS stream): TIME World Report: What's Next For Putin's Power](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Dlymjvhx.m3u8) (5:44)  _Published 2023-07-06. Russian President Vladimir Putin faced the greatest threat to his authority in decades when the mutinous Wagner Group seized major cities in an armed rebellion against the Russian military on June 24. TIME Senior Correspondent Simon Shuster explains what this insurrection means for Putin's power._  by [Eric Cortellessa](https://time.com/author/eric-cortellessa/)  ## Eric Cortellessa Senior Correspondent Jul 12, 2023 9:24 PM UTC  FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on July 12, 2023, in the Rayburn Building in Washington, DC FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on July 12, 2023, in the Rayburn Building in Washington, DC Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images  by [Eric Cortellessa](https://time.com/author/eric-cortellessa/)  ## Eric Cortellessa Senior Correspondent Jul 12, 2023 9:24 PM UTC FBI Director Christopher Wray carried a heavy burden when he appeared before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. As Republicans pounded him with withering criticisms over his role in the Trump documents case and his efforts to combat right-wing extremism, he was tasked with sticking up not only for himself but the entire federal law enforcement community. One by one, GOP lawmakers put Wray on the defensive, alleging that the FBI has systematically targeted conservative Americans under his watch, including former President Donald Trump. “The idea that I’m biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background,” said Wray, a registered Republican who was appointed by Trump. Wray’s testimony comes as Republicans seek to tarnish the Biden administration’s reputation ahead of the 2024 election and delegitimize the U.S. justice system after Trump’s federal criminal prosecution. At the center of their effort is an attempt to portray a weaponized Justice Department that acts on President Joe Biden’s behalf. The hearing was Wray’s first congressional testimony since Trump’s indictment last month for allegedly mishandling national secrets and obstructing the government’s efforts to reclaim them. “The American people have lost faith in the FBI,” said Republican Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana. “This is about whether the very system of justice in our country can be trusted anymore.” --- ### More from TIME --- Wray strenuously rejected GOP allegations that he has shielded Hunter Biden, the president’s son who recently struck a plea deal for misdemeanor tax charges. House Republicans plan to [ramp up](https://time.com/6291109/hunter-biden-house-gop-irs/) their investigation into the younger Biden after an Internal Revenue Service whistleblower said he received special treatment from federal prosecutors. At one point, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida asked Wray point blank: “Are you protecting the Bidens?” Wray answered: “Absolutely not.” Wray also responded to a far-right [conspiracy theory](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/13/us/politics/jan-6-conspiracy-theory-ray-epps.html) that the Jan. 6 insurrection was really an FBI sting operation. “This notion that somehow the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources and agents is ludicrous and is a disservice to our brave, hard-working, dedicated men and women.” Democrats on the panel mostly came to his defense. While some questioned Wray over the FBI’s online surveillance practices, many sought to vindicate the agency’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club last year following the former President’s refusal to return classified documents to the National Archives. “They seem incapable of assigning any agency or responsibility to Donald Trump for problems that are Trump’s and Trump’s alone,” Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, the committee’s ranking member, said of Republicans. “When they do not like the outcome, they investigate the investigators and work to discredit the outcome.” For his part, Wray pushed back on the claim made by some Trump allies that the Biden Administration raided the former President’s home. “I would not call it a raid,” he told legislators. “I would call it the execution of a lawful search warrant.” Ultimately, the findings of the search of Trump’s South Florida estate led to his indictment last month. In a [49-page](https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.648653/gov.uscourts.flsd.648653.3.0.pdf) filing, prosecutors included photographic evidence that Trump stored boxes of classified information in various locations at Mar-a-Lago. “There are specific rules about where to store classified information and that those need to be stored in a SCIF,” Wray said, referring to a sensitive compartmented information facility. “In my experience, ballrooms, bathrooms, and bedrooms are not SCIFs.” During the hearing, Wray made his first public comments since a Louisiana federal judge banned U.S. agencies from collaborating with communications platforms to combat misinformation. He said the agency would comply with the order. “We don’t ask social media companies to censor information or suppress information,” Wray told lawmakers. “At the end of the day, we’re very clear that it’s up to the social media companies to decide whether to do something about that.” That’s unlikely to satisfy Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee and one of Wray’s most vociferous critics. In his opening statement Wednesday, Jordan labeled the FBI’s work “Orwellian” and encouraged Democrats to join with him in pushing to move the agency’s headquarters out of the D.C. area. (He has recently [called](https://www.wsj.com/articles/republican-eyes-sweet-home-for-new-fbi-headquarters-in-alabama-479b19d8) for the FBI to be relocated to Alabama.) Otherwise, he said, it should lose funding altogether. “I hope they will work with us in the appropriations process to stop the weaponization of the government against the American people,” he said. When Wray responded to those charges later in the hearing, he tried to avoid coming across as outwardly political. Rather, he remained placid as he depicted the bureau he leads as a staid institution of crime-fighters. “Our folks take great pains to be rigorous, professional, objective,” he said. “Sometimes that’s frustrating to others.” ## Transcript [00:05] On June 24th this year, we saw some of the most dramatic [00:09] events play out. [00:10] I think in puta, naira, Russia. [00:13] Where we had an armed rebellion of one faction of the Russian [00:17] Armed Forces, marching on Moscow, with tanks taking over a few [00:23] big Russian cities, and taking them very easily without much [00:28] resistance. And the importance of that is I think that it shook [00:32] the authority of President Vladimir Putin to the core. [00:35] I think it's it's it's a level of weakness and uncertainty [00:40] and in his grip on power that I haven't seen in 15 years of [00:43] reporting on Russia. [00:46] The mutineer. It's it's a it's a term used to hear associated [00:50] with pirates and Buccaneers but it's kind of a useful way to think [00:54] actually about the Wagner group and you've guinea pig ocean. [00:57] It's Commander, they are a private Army, [01:00] a mercenary force of paramilitary force that operates within [01:05] the blue kind of brought her umbrella of the Russian Armed Forces, [01:07] but very much Independence and then pretty autonomous [01:11] more and more. [01:12] So as the war in Ukraine has been folded over the last year [01:15] and a half or so you can guinea pig, [01:17] ocean has spent months during the war, in [01:19] Ukraine, complaining against the, the commanders of the Russian [01:24] military saying that they are not providing him with enough [01:26] weapons enough ammunition that they are ineffective incompetent [01:30] and trying to kind of Steel Authority from them. [01:35] They've got more and more independent, confident better armed [01:40] and I think that Independence is, what gave the commander? [01:43] You've been here for the Gordon, the confidence. [01:46] And that would spur to declare this Mutiny and go to war against [01:51] basically the rest of the Armed Forces. [01:53] Is very hard to say how this is going to play out from now [01:58] on there does seem to be at least the beginnings of a purge [02:02] going on within the Russian Elites in response to this. [02:04] I haven't been to Moscow since 2015 when they expelled me from [02:07] the country, certainly in the last few months, [02:11] it has been rare for Western journalists to go in there very [02:17] consistently. The the regime has gone after every layer of the [02:22] media. So now the level of of control that the regime has and [02:28] exerts over the media is so extreme that. [02:31] It's very hard to find independent sources of information. [02:34] We've seen already at least one Russian general, [02:38] who was close to there to the rebel faction arrested, [02:42] in General Store, avakin better known in the Russian media. [02:45] At least is General Armageddon for the absolutely rampant [02:50] and horrible war crimes that he's been accused of he was in charge [02:53] For a period of a few months of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [02:58] Then was removed from that command generals, [03:00] Aurora Beacon is an ally of the rebel commander for Goshen. [03:05] They were quite close. [03:06] It seems that the General survey can has been detained or arrested [03:09] because of his connections to to this Rebel faction. [03:12] There's an effort now, to weed out or two to figure out within [03:16] the Russian Elites, who was aligned with, [03:19] with this Rebellion, who was potentially helping them, [03:22] or giving them information, or where that they were planning [03:24] this Mutiny. So that's going to play out certainly in the coming [03:27] days, if not weeks. [03:28] And again the rebel commander is still free, [03:32] he's been given leave as far as we know. [03:36] So there is still this kind of Rebel faction. [03:39] That is not being dismantled, they're still around and they [03:45] still can serve as a kind of Alternative Center of power alternative [03:50] center of gravity for any factions within Rush. [03:53] Within the Russian to leave within the Russian military [03:55] to gravitate towards in opposition to President Vladimir [03:59] Putin. I think one thing that's been very consistent and Putin, [04:03] the 23 years in power is the key was the man at the top of [04:07] the pyramid, at the top of what he called the vertical of [04:10] power, this kind of great Machinery of the states where [04:15] he was at the wheel and all of the other elements of this, [04:18] this machine all the different Clans and towers of the Kremlin. [04:22] They might fight with each other, but Putin was always the kind [04:24] of arbiter above them all. [04:26] Who could settle disputes and who could put people in their [04:31] place when they challenge the system. [04:32] But I think Putin himself is still trying to Parson understand [04:36] just How Deeply the foundations of his authority have been shaken [04:40] and I think an intuitive Lee has his approach to doing that [04:43] is to look for the traders, to try to find them. [04:45] But also mindful of the fact that if there are more traitors [04:49] than he thinks, they could still United band together against [04:53] If he cracks down too hard so it's quite a delicate Balancing [04:57] Act. If he has to strike, right? [04:58] He needs to put down the rebellion and control the treasonous [05:03] factions within the Russian Elites, but he can't do it so harshly [05:06] and end so openly that they have a mind to unite again and maybe [05:12] make another attempt to, to take Moscow. [05:14] But I think I would expect that the Putin will now impose [05:18] even harsher controls over the Elites in and try to weed out [05:24] a rest. If not kill enemies that he sees around him that he imagines [05:29] around him. That certainly has been that the historical [05:32] pattern that we've seen in inside the Kremlin and within the [05:36] Russian leadership for hundreds of years. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6294244/fbi-christopher-wray-house-republicans-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6294244/fbi-christopher-wray-house-republicans-trump/"},"headline":"Trump-Appointed FBI Director Punches Back Against Republicans Who Claim He Does Biden’s Bidding","datePublished":"2023-07-12T21:24:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:51:05.327Z","description":"“The idea that I’m biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background,” Christopher Wray told his fellow House Republicans.","url":"https://time.com/6294244/fbi-christopher-wray-house-republicans-trump/","keywords":["Congress","republicans"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1954f621535ed9fb/698a3ea216d8843cd6c3c078/GettyImages-1527949929.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eric Cortellessa","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eric-cortellessa/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1954f621535ed9fb/698a3ea216d8843cd6c3c078/GettyImages-1527949929.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation","caption":"Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation","creditText":"Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6294244/fbi-christopher-wray-house-republicans-trump/","name":"Trump-Appointed FBI Director Punches Back Against Republicans Who Claim He Does Biden’s Bidding"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME World Report: What's Next For Putin's Power","description":"Russian President Vladimir Putin faced the greatest threat to his authority in decades when the mutinous Wagner Group seized major cities in an armed rebellion against the Russian military on June 24. 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