Closing summary
FBI director Christopher Wray wrapped up a lengthy day of testimony before the House judiciary committee, which was as riven by partisanship as ever. Democrats defended the Donald Trump-appointed FBI chief, while Republicans tried to get him to admit misconduct or weigh in on various conspiracy theories. In the course of the six-hour hearing, Wray denied any involvement by the bureau in the January 6 attack, jousted with two rightwing lawmakers over allegations of corruption against Joe Biden and his family, and a memo warning about “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology”, and at one point tried to remind a GOP lawmaker of his own ties to the party.
Here’s what else has happened today:
Ray Epps, who was repeatedly accused by Tucker Carlson of being a federal agent and instigating the January 6 attack, sued the former Fox News host and the network. In his testimony, Wray denied that Epps worked for the bureau.
A top aide to conservative supreme court justice Clarence Thomas took money from several lawyers with business before the court, apparently in connection to a Christmas party, a Guardian investigation has found.
Inflation continued to cool in the United States last month, good news both for Biden and the Federal Reserve’s quest to halt the price increases without driving the economy into a recession.
House speaker Kevin McCarthy made it clear he was onboard with his fellow Republicans’ efforts to hold the FBI and justice department to account.
House Republicans may release more January 6 surveillance footage in the weeks to come.
Politico reports that House Republicans plan to turn over security camera footage recorded on January 6 to media outlets sometime before Congress takes its annual recess in August:
News: Rep. Barry Loudermilk told me he wants media to have access to Jan. 6 Capitol security footage by the start of the August recess.
— Jordain Carney (@jordainc) July 12, 2023
(ICYMI: McCarthy’s office previously told me and @kyledcheney that they handed over handling that to Loudermilk)
More TK.
Earlier this year, GOP House speaker Kevin McCarthy handed over some of the footage to Tucker Carlson, then a primetime Fox News host who had repeatedly downplayed the severity of the insurrection. McCarthy later vowed to allow other media outlets to see the footage:
Christopher Wray was appointed FBI leader in the wake of one of the biggest upheavals of the early part of Donald Trump’s presidency: his firing of then-director James Comey.
Wray seemed like a solid GOP-aligned choice to take the reins of the bureau. He was a former assistant attorney general under Republican president George W Bush, and at the time of his nomination in 2017 was working for a law firm that advised Trump’s family trust and donated to Republican candidates.
Six years later, Wray couldn’t help but seem a little aghast in his hearing before the judiciary committee at being accused by Republican lawmakers – many of whom were endorsees of Trump, the president who gave him his job – of being biased against the right.
He let his dismay show, albeit briefly, in the clip below:
Wray to Harriet Hageman after she accuses him of discriminating against conservatives *when he's a registered Republican*: "The idea that I'm biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me given my own personal background." pic.twitter.com/IhHRABNvSu
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 12, 2023
Updated
The FBI is making extra efforts to ensure director Christopher Wray’s answers in the ongoing House judiciary committee hearing are not lost in the partisan fray.
Its official Twitter account is sending out snippets of his responses to some of the questions. Here is what he had to say about allegations that the FBI was investigating parents at school board meetings:
In reference to the false assertions about investigating parents at school board meetings, #FBI Director Wray told the House Judiciary Committee that the Bureau is not in the business of policing speech. Read more here: https://t.co/dZSUPgpAwS pic.twitter.com/7jebphhgIb
— FBI (@FBI) July 12, 2023
And here is Wray’s response to calls from some Republicans to reduce the bureau’s funding:
In response to a question from the House Judiciary Committee about the calls to dismantle and defund the #FBI, Director Wray contended that such a move would harm national security, the American people, and the communities that the Bureau works to protect and serve every day. pic.twitter.com/PWgiMFFXhA
— FBI (@FBI) July 12, 2023
Man accused by Tucker Carlson of instigating January 6 sues Fox News
Ray Epps, an Arizona man who twice voted for Donald Trump, has sued the conservative Fox News network over statements made by host Tucker Carlson on his now-canceled show accusing him of playing a role in the January 6 insurrection, the New York Times report.
The suit, in which Carlson is also named, is the latest legal trouble facing Fox, whose personalities acted as major conduits for conspiracy theories about Joe Biden’s 2020 election win and the attack on the Capitol. Earlier this year, it agreed to pay voting equipment firm Dominion $787.5m to settle a suit over statements made about its business by Fox’s hosts and anchors.
In his ongoing testimony before the House judiciary committee, FBI director Christopher Wray was asked about Epps, and denied that he was working for the bureau.
Here’s more on the lawsuit, from the Times:
Ray Epps, the man at the center of a widespread conspiracy theory about the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday accusing Fox News and its former host Tucker Carlson of defamation for promoting a “fantastical story” that Mr. Epps was an undercover government agent who instigated the violence at the Capitol as a way to disparage then-President Trump and his supporters.
The complaint was filed in Superior Court in Delaware, where Fox recently agreed to a $787.5 million settlement in a separate defamation case brought against the network by Dominion Voting Systems to combat claims that the company had helped to rig the 2020 election against Mr. Trump.
“Just as Fox had focused on voting machine companies when falsely claiming a rigged election, Fox knew it needed a scapegoat for January 6th,” the complaint says. “It settled on Ray Epps and began promoting the lie that Epps was a federal agent who incited the attack on the Capitol.”
Fox News did not immediately respond when asked for comment. But the network moved quickly to have the venue changed to Federal District Court in Wilmington, Del.
Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who is now running to be the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, has come out in support of Christopher Wray, saying he had “done a very good job”.
Speaking to Fox News, Christie criticised attacks on the FBI director during the judiciary committee hearing and dismissed them as “theater and people trying to raise money for campaigns”.
You can watch his remarks here:
2024 GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie calls out attacks on FBI Director Christoper Wray during today’s Judiciary Committee hearing as “theater and people trying to raise money for campaigns.”
— The Recount (@therecount) July 12, 2023
“I think Chris Wray has done a very good job,” Christie says. pic.twitter.com/IQIfnL5JqC
Luxury trips and property deals: US supreme court’s ethical controversies
All-expenses-paid trips, book promotions and property selling.
Some of the US supreme court’s conservative judges are mired in ethical controversies that have prompted members of Congress to call for not only testimony from Chief Justice John Roberts, but also for formal accountability, for what they say is democracy’s sake.
Senate Democrats this week have called for a vote on a bill to establish a code of conduct for the supreme court justices similar to those that other government agencies must follow. The bill, unlikely to pass in a divided Congress, would demand the court create a code within 180 days and establish rules on recusals related to potential conflicts of interest and disclosure of gifts and travel.
The ethical concerns involving court justices have continued to mount. Most recently, the Guardian reported that lawyers who have conducted business before the US supreme court have paid an aide to Clarence Thomas money via Venmo.
Here’s a rundown of the ethical controversies supreme court justices have been involved in.
Updated
The day so far
FBI director Christopher Wray’s testimony before the House judiciary committee is ongoing. It’s been a generally partisan hearing, with Democrats defending the Donald Trump-appointed FBI chief, and Republicans trying to get him to admit misconduct or weigh in on various conspiracy theories. So far, Wray has denied any involvement by the bureau in the January 6 attack, and had heated back and forths with two rightwing lawmakers over allegations of corruption against Joe Biden and his family, and a memo warning about “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology”. It’s not over yet, so we’ll let you know what more may come out of the encounter.
Here’s what else has happened so far today:
A top aide to conservative supreme court justice Clarence Thomas took money from several lawyers with business before the court, apparently in connection to a Christmas party, a Guardian investigation has found.
Inflation continued to cool in the United States last month, good news both for Biden and the Federal Reserve’s quest to halt the price increases without driving the economy into a recession.
House speaker Kevin McCarthy made it clear he was onboard with his fellow Republicans’ efforts to hold the FBI and justice department to account.
Donald Trump’s legal entanglements were raised once again in the House judiciary committee hearing, this time by Democratic congresswoman Madeleine Dean.
She wanted to know if the FBI director, Christopher Wray, thought it was a good idea to store classified documents in a bathroom or ballroom – which is where federal investigators determined Trump kept secret material at his Mar-a-Lago resort (as pictured above).
“I want to use and examine the case of the Mar-a-Lago documents because it’s been used by the former president as a pitying moment, as though he has somehow been victimized,” Dean said. “Director Wray, a ballroom, a bathroom, a bedroom, are those appropriate places to store classified, confidential information?”
Wray replied: “I don’t want to be commenting on the pending case, but I will say that there are specific rules about where to store classified information and that those need to be stored in a SCIF, a secure compartmentalized information facility, and in my experience, ballrooms, bathrooms and bedrooms are not SCIFs.”
See the exchange here:
Rep. Dean (D-PA) on Trump’s classified documents case: “A ballroom, a bathroom, a bedroom — are those appropriate places to store classified...information?”
— The Recount (@therecount) July 12, 2023
FBI Director Wray: “Those need to be stored in a SCIF…In my experience, ballrooms, bathrooms and bedrooms are not SCIFs.” pic.twitter.com/Y76mXvtX3l
Updated
Lawyers with supreme court business paid Clarence Thomas aide via Venmo
Let’s step away from the House judiciary committee hearing with FBI director Christopher Wray for a moment to focus on another corner of the America justice system: the supreme court. The Guardian’s Stephanie Kirchgaessner has uncovered new details about the relationship between conservative justice Clarence Thomas and lawyers with interests before the court:
Several lawyers who have had business before the supreme court, including one who successfully argued to end race-conscious admissions at universities, paid money to a top aide to Justice Clarence Thomas, according to the aide’s Venmo transactions. The payments appear to have been made in connection to Thomas’s 2019 Christmas party.
The payments to Rajan Vasisht, who served as Thomas’s aide from July 2019 to July 2021, seem to underscore the close ties between Thomas, who is embroiled in ethics scandals following a series of revelations about his relationship with a wealthy billionaire donor, and certain senior Washington lawyers who argue cases and have other business in front of the justice.
Vasisht’s Venmo account – which was public prior to requesting comment for this article and is no longer – show that he received seven payments in November and December 2019 from lawyers who previously served as Thomas legal clerks. The amount of the payments is not disclosed, but the purpose of each payment is listed as either “Christmas party”, “Thomas Christmas Party”, “CT Christmas Party” or “CT Xmas party”, in an apparent reference to the justice’s initials.
Updated
Republicans have been particularly interested in getting answers from Christopher Wray about a memo from the FBI’s field office in Richmond, Virginia warning about “radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology”.
That’s an antisemitic set of ideas adhered to only by a minority of American Catholics, the Southern Poverty Law Center says, but the GOP has decried the memo as an overreach by the bureau that amounts to religious oppression.
The judiciary committee’s chair, Jim Jordan, had a heated exchange with Wray about the memo, which you can watch below:
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 12, 2023
Updated
Is the FBI 'weaponized'? 'Absolutely not', Wray says
After taking control of the House earlier this year, Republicans convened a subcommittee tasked with uncovering the “weaponization of the federal government”. Chaired by Jim Jordan, an acolyte of Donald Trump and promoter of many of his conspiracy theories, the committee has so far this year held hearings examining whether the Biden administration has stifled free speech and taking testimony from FBI whistleblowers, among other subjects.
Democratic congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee asked the FBI director, Christopher Wray, about the allegation at the heart of the subcommittee.
“Republican members of this committee have spent much time of this Congress claiming that various aspects of the US government have been weaponized against the American people. Director Ray, are you or your staff or auxiliaries weaponizing the FBI against the American people?” Lee asked.
“Absolutely not,” he replied.
Updated
Wray calls conspiracy theories of FBI involvement in January 6 'ludicrous'
In his testimony to the House judiciary committee, the FBI director, Christopher Wray, decried conspiracy theories promoted by rightwing figures such as former Fox News host Tucker Carlson as well as some Republican lawmakers that the bureau’s agents were involved in the January 6 insurrection.
Wray’s comments came in an exchange with Democratic congressman Steve Cohen, who asked Wray whether Ray Epps, a man Carlson and others have claimed was a government agent and provoked the storming of the US Capitol, worked for the FBI.
“No,” Wray replied. “I will say this notion that somehow the violence at the Capitol on January 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources and agents is ludicrous and is a disservice to our brave, hardworking, dedicated men and women.”
Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that Epps was considering suing Fox News for Carlson’s comments about him. The conservative network earlier this year agreed to pay $787.5m to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by voting equipment manufacturer Dominion over misinformation Fox personalities spread about its business’s involvement in the 2020 election.
Updated
Courtesy of CSPAN, here’s the full exchange between Christopher Wray and Matt Gaetz, the far-right Florida Republican who accused the FBI director protecting Joe Biden and his family:
Heated exchange between @RepMattGaetz and FBI Director Christopher Wray on the Hunter Biden investigation.
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 12, 2023
Gaetz: "Are you protecting the Bidens?"
Wray: "Absolutely not." pic.twitter.com/3Kg1tdMOsP
Updated
Christopher Wray just got into it with Matt Gaetz, one of the most outspoken far-right Republicans on the judiciary committee.
Gaetz accused Wray of allowing FBI agents to get away with misconduct, such as abusing a database of foreign wiretaps, and ignoring “the Biden shakedown regime”, as he called allegations of corruption by the president’s family.
“You preside over the FBI that has the lowest level of trust in the FBI’s history. People trusted the FBI more when J Edgar Hoover was running the place than when you are and the reason is because you don’t give straight answers. You give answers that later a court deems aren’t true,” Gaetz said.
Wray apparently came prepared for the encounter, replying to Gaetz: “Respectfully, congressman, in your home state of Florida, the number of people applying to come work for us and devote their lives working for us is … up over 100%.”
“We’re deeply proud of them and they deserve better than you,” Gaetz said.
Updated
In his opening statement, Christopher Wray attempted to keep out of the partisan fray, instead highlighting what he described as the professionalism of the FBI and its leadership.
“Just taking our top eight leaders as an example, they all came up to the bureau as line agents. They’ve worked in 21 different field offices and have a combined 130 years of field experience. They include a West Point grad, veterans of the army, air force and marines, as well as a former police officer and state trooper, and not a single one is a political appointee, not one,” Wray said.
“Today’s FBI leaders reflect the best of our organization, an organization that is made up of 38,000 men and women who are patriots, professionals and dedicated public servants, and that is the real FBI.”
Updated
The House judiciary hearing began with opening statements from the Republican chair, Jim Jordan, and the Democratic ranking member, Jerry Nadler, who took predictably partisan views of the FBI.
Jordan recounted a number of episodes he says proves the FBI abuses its power, saying: “American speech is censored, parents are called terrorists, Catholics are called radicals and I haven’t even talked about the spying that took place of a presidential campaign or the raiding of a former presidents home.” The last part was a reference to the FBI’s search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last year, which led to his indictment last month.
Nadler, a longtime Trump antagonist, accused Republicans of using the hearing to retaliate against the FBI director, Christopher Wray, for the bureau’s involvement in the Trump prosecution.
“Today, House Republicans will attack the FBI for having had the audacity to treat Donald Trump like any other citizen,” Nadler said. “The strategy is simple, really. When in doubt, Chairman Jordan investigates the investigators, the FBI dared to hold Trump accountable. So Republicans must discredit the FBI at all costs.”
Updated
White House says GOP 'attacking the blue' as hearing with FBI director opens
As the House judiciary committee begins its hearing with the FBI director, Christopher Wray, the Biden administration has released a statement decrying the GOP’s attacks on federal law enforcement.
“Extreme House Republicans have decided that the only law enforcement they like is law enforcement that suits their own partisan political agenda. Instead of backing the blue, they’re attacking the blue – going after the FBI, federal prosecutors and other law enforcement professionals with political stunts to try to get themselves attention on the far right,” said the White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, Ian Sams.
He accused the Republicans of “barreling ahead with efforts to defund the police at the federal level”, citing judiciary committee chair Jim Jordan’s proposal yesterday to “eliminate any funding for the FBI that is not absolutely essential for the agency to execute its mission”.
“Instead of attacking federal law enforcement for political purposes, House Republicans should join President Biden to stand up for law enforcement and put the rule of law and the safety and security of the American people ahead of themselves.”
Updated
Here’s more from the Guardian’s Lauren Aratani on this morning’s inflation data, and what it means for the world’s largest economy:
The prices of US goods and services hit a two-year low in June, a sign that inflation is continuing to ease as the economy responds to the US Federal Reserve’s rapid increases in interest rates.
The latest consumer price index (CPI) figures, which measure the prices of a basket of goods and services, increased 3% over the last year. This was the smallest increase since March 2021 and down from a four-decade high of 9.1% in June 2022 as pandemic supply chain issues clashed with burgeoning consumer demand.
Even though inflation has continued to go down, price increases still remain higher than the Fed’s 2% annual target rate, meaning more interest rate hikes could come.
US inflation continues to ease after Fed raised rates
Consumer prices in the United States rose only 3% last month compared to the year prior, data released today indicates, the latest sign that the inflation wave bedeviling the economy is ebbing after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates.
The data is good news for Joe Biden, who saw his approval ratings tumble after prices began rising in 2021, and continues to receive low marks from many Americans for his handling of the economy. The report is also a hopeful sign that the central bank’s rate hikes are curbing inflation without damaging growth – a side effect that many economists feared would follow the increase in borrowing costs.
Follow our live blog for more on what the data means for the US, and global, economies:
House speaker McCarthy backs Republican investigations of justice department
In an opinion piece published by Fox News, the speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, has made clear he is on board with efforts by his fellow Republicans to investigate the FBI and justice department.
“Evidence continues to mount that the Biden Justice Department enforces the law unequally by tilting the scales to favor friends and family while unleashing the FBI and prosecutors on President Biden’s political opponent. This is a perversion of the founding principles of our Republic and a violation of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law,” McCarthy wrote.
The speaker’s piece underscores how using the House’s investigative powers against the Biden administration remains a major priority of Republicans, after they took the majority in the chamber in last year’s midterm elections. It’s also a sign that the FBI director, Christopher Wray, can expect plenty of questions about the investigations into Donald Trump and Hunter Biden as well as other alleged instances of “weaponization” from Republicans when he appears before the judiciary committee at 10am.
The House speaker is grabbing on to whatever he can find to paint the Biden administration as lawless. In an appearance on Fox Business Network, McCarthy tied the cocaine found at the White House earlier this month to a wider pattern of alleged misdeeds:
"Think about how far this White House has fallen from the last president to this president — not only do you have people flashing in Rose Garden, now you have cocaine being found, and they go quiet."
— The Recount (@therecount) July 12, 2023
— House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Fox Business pic.twitter.com/HjN04l90im
Updated
Republicans to question FBI director Wray on Trump, Hunter Biden in House hearing
Good morning, US politics blog readers. FBI director Christopher Wray was appointed by Donald Trump, but his Republican bonafides are unlikely to matter much when he appears before the House judiciary committee at 10am ET. Under chair Jim Jordan, a prominent ally of the former president, the committee’s GOP lawmakers have used their powers to defend the former president from the various criminal investigations he has been ensnared in, including the federal inquiry into the secret documents discovered at Mar-a-Lago, which resulted in his indictment in June. That’s a matter the FBI was heavily involved in, and GOP enmity over it has grown so severe that some in the party have called for defunding the bureau.
The judiciary committee has also pressed on with efforts to prove, thus far without much success, that Hunter Biden, or perhaps even his father, Joe Biden, are corrupt, which nearly resulted in them holding Wray in contempt for not cooperating. Expect both of these subjects, and more, to be asked about when Wray makes his appearance before the committee.
Here’s what else is happening today:
Joe Biden is continuing his day at the Nato summit in Lithuania, which includes a visit with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. We have a live blog covering it all here.
The United States continues to grapple with extreme weather, which sparked flooding in the northeast and dangerous heat in the south. Follow live updates here.
Republicans in Iowa have managed to pass a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy in a special session called by Republican governor Kim Reynolds.
