Sen. Ron Johnson explains subpoena of FBI Director Wray: 'I finally ran out of patience'
Senate Homeland Security Chair tells 'America's Newsroom' FBI 'continues to slow-walk our requests for documents'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Tuesday that FBI Director Christopher Wray was subpoenaed as part of the committee’s broad review into the origins of the Russia investigation because Johnson “finally ran out of patience.”
“Certainly my committee granted me the subpoena authorization to try and get everybody’s voluntary compliance, but it simply hasn’t worked,” Johnson told “America’s Newsroom”. “The FBI continues to slow-walk our requests for documents, which really date back years.”
Johnson added that he has also “sent a summary request to Attorney General [William] Barr, who by the way has been great.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}JOHNSON SUBPOENAS FBI IN REVIEW OF RUSSIA PROBE ORIGIN
“The hang-up is within the FBI,” he continued, noting that in September 2019 the FBI was “basically relisting all the requests we had for information and we really haven’t gotten squat ... what we're seeing now is dribs and drabs."
The subpoena issued Monday and obtained by Fox News, demands that Wray produce "all records related to the Crossfire Hurricane investigation."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"This includes, but is not limited to, all records provided or made available to the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Justice for its review," the subpoena states, referring to DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz's review of abuses related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
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The subpoena also demands "all records related to requests" to the General Services Administration or the Office of the Inspector General for the GSA for "presidential transition records from November 2016 through December 2017."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The FBI must provide these documents to the committee by Aug. 20 at 5 p.m. ET, according to the subpoena.
On Tuesday, Johnson told "America's Newsroom" a newly released document Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham obtained through the Department of Justice "should shock people."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Graham, citing the document, told Fox Business Network's “Sunday Morning Futures” this weekend that the FBI deceived the Senate Intelligence Committee during a 2018 interview on the investigation into Russian election interference.
“I mean that the fact that a year after the FBI was fully aware of the fact that the Steele dossier was chock-full of Russian disinformation, they’re coming in front of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and briefing them falsely that they still had confidence in the Steele dossier,” Johnson said. “This is beyond the pale and the FBI has got to come clean.”
“I’m done fooling around ... Hopefully we’ll be able to engage counsel within the White House as well as the attorney general’s office to extract the documents out of the FBI,” he continued. “This is ridiculous.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Host Sandra Smith asked Johnson if former FBI Director James Comey will be subpoenaed next.
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“James Comey has an awful lot to account for ... ” Johnson said in response. He’s got an awful lot of culpability in terms of what all happened. Think of the political nightmare we’ve gone through over the last three years because of the actions of these individuals.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“The public needs to know what happened and people need to be held accountable,” Johnson said.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.