That they are getting close to arresting that person or at least identifying that person because its a big outstanding question. Also i think with the hearing one of the things were going to see come up again and again is a clash between First Amendment rights and what the fbi is able to do in its investigation, Congress People will want to know why the fbi did not act on speech and the fbi is going to have to explain again and again that in the United States you can speak about things like attacking the capitol, what the fbi investigates is violence and plots, but we have very, very aggressive free speech rights here in the United States and thats going to be a big thorny issue that they will be working out today. Clint, as director wray prepares to take his seat, hes sitting down right now, youve been this that seat before testifying before congress as someone who has worked within the fbi. What are you going to be looking for today, especially when it comes to addressing the growing threat of domestic extremism and terrorism . Geoff, i think the big thing, i testified to this exact committee on domestic terrorism in 2019 and the issue was what does the fbi or u. S. Government need to keep doing investigations and to get ahead of these domestic terrorism threats . Does there need to be a domestic terrorism statue . How do we designate . These are all the points about whats a balance between free speech. My thanks to each of you. Lets join this hearing in progress. There is no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the event of that day. While these efforts to overturn a free and Fair Election were ultimately unsuccessful the trauma of that tragic harrowing day lingers on. This timeless symbol of our democracy still bears the scars of that attack. The attack caused the senseless deaths of Capitol Police officers Brian Sicknick and liebengood and jeffrey smith. Countless Police Officers, staff, journalists and members of congress remain haunted by the sights and sounds of that day. The neonazi symbols and confederate flags paraded through the hallowed halls of the United States capitol. A noose and gallows constructed on the grounds outside the capitol. The sinister shouts of hang mike pence and where is nancy. The extremists carrying zip tied and clad intact cal gear. Bors of all, the violent assaults on the u. S. Capitol police and d. C. Metropolitan Police Department officers who bravely sought to protect us from the siege. And the fbi has barnd us that the insurrection could be a, quote, significant driver of violence, end quote, in the future. Along with, quote, the shared false narrative of a stolen election, closed quote. So we must not forget the horrors of january 6 or allow revisionists to rewrite what happened that day. Id like to turn to a video to demonstrate the scale of the violence and the hate that we witnessed. This cloud of smoke, broken flag poles. I think in the rotunda just laying there on the floor. Were told to get helmets, riot helmets. You just see a sea of people and then you look down and you see officers fighting with these people, pepper spray, smoke grenades, gas grenades. I see Speaker Pelosi being evacuated and i hear them telling her the capitol has been breached. The staff went under the table, barricaded the door, turned out the lights and were silent in the dark for two and a half hours. Not knowing how long you were going to have to be there, not knowing when you can come out, not knowing if you were going to come out. We fought with these people who were prepared for a fight. They had on gas masks, they had on body armor, they had contact cal gear, bulletproof vests. They were ready to go. There were so many calls on the radio, priority, help, help. Somebody is trapped. We need help. Shots fired. This is when officer dunn encountered a couple in the crowd, began hurling the most vile racial slurs at him, a black officer. He was called and n word more than a dozen times. They said, hey [ bleep ] voted for joe biden. They said, everybody [ bleep ] voted for joe biden. I was scared. At one point i said how is this going to end . It was just a double door with glass panes that was pushed out. I ended up getting pinned there by the crowd, there was a guy ripping my mask off, he was able to rip away my baton, beat me with it, he was practically foaming at the mouth. We had dozens of officers down and youve got the nerve to be holding a Blue Lives Matter flag. When the guys kept walking by the other one pulled out his badge and said, trust me, i understand, were doing this for you, buddy. And hes got a badge. He showed me his badge. Five people lost their lives that day, including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick. They beat Police Officers, they fought us, they had confederate flags in the u. S. Capitol. I got called a [ bleep ] a couple dozen times today. It wasnt just a mob or a bunch of thugs, you know, they were terrorists. They tried to disrupt this countrys democracy. That was their goal. Is this america . Is this america . What the hell just happened . The hate on display that terrible day is not a new phenomena in our country. Americas first Domestic Terror Organization the ku klux klan was born in the aftermath of the civil war to terrorize formerly enslaved africanamericans. As judge garland noted at his nomination hearing the department of justice was founded during reconstruction to, quote, secure the civil rights pronl ised by the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments. He went on to note that the first attorney general appointed by president grant led, quote, a concerted battle to protect black Voting Rights from the violence of White Supremacists, successfully prosecuting hundreds of cases against members of the ku klux klan. The insurrectionists who stormed the capitol on january 6th did not wear white robes and hoods, they might as well have. They were the latest incarnation of violent white supremacist movements that has terrorized fellow americans on the basis of their race, we will john and National Origin for more than 150 years. Let me be clear at the outset, i have said this on many occasions and it bears respeegt, i condemn all violence regardless of ideology. I hope my republican colleagues will join me today in acknowledging as the department of Homeland Security found last october that violent White Supremacy is, quote, the most persistent and lethal threat in the homeland. I hope they will also join me in unequivocally, unequivocally condemning the big lie that the november 3rd election was stolen, a falsehood which the former president continues to spread which helped provoke the january 6th insurrection and threatens ens to incite future attacks. As the january 6 attack on the capitol demonstrated for too long our federal government has failed to address the growing terrorist menace in our own backyard. I have been sounding this alarm for some time. In 2012 i held a hearing in this committee on hate crimes and domestic extremism following the horrific massacre of six worshippers at a sikh in wisconsin perpetrated by a white supremacist. In early 2017 i introduced the domestic terrorism prevention act with congressman schneider, a bill that would enhance the federal governments efforts to prevent domestic terrorism. During the Trump Administration i led multiple letters to attorney general barr and to you asking the steps that were taken by the department of justice and the fbi to combat the growing threat of white supremacist violence. I asked why the bureau made the inexplicable decision to stop tracking white supremacist incidents as a separate category of domestic terrorism. Im still awaiting the response. Meanwhile, the threat posed by domestic terrorists and in particular White Supremacists has only continued to grow. The mass shooting at Mother Emanuel Church in charleston, south carolina, where a white supremacist killed nine members of the church, the 2018 mass shooting at the tree of life synagogue in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, where white supremacist killed 11 members of that jewish congregation, the 2019 mass shooting at the walmart in el paso, texas, where a white supremacist started latinos killing 23 people and many, many more. Far too Many Americans particularly people of color and religious minorities worry whether their community will be next to be devastated by tragedy. Despite the scope of the violent chiets threat former President Trump and his administration unfortunately downplayed the threat posed by White Supremacists. The Trump Administration never set up a task force to combat the numerous incidents of deadly terrorist white lens by white supremacist and other extremists. It was only after the black lives matter activists protested last summer against Police Misconduct that the administration found the need to establish a task force to address, and i quote, antigovernment extremists. In a recent report in the New York Times details how the Trump Administrations baseless efforts to paint the far left as the real domestic terrorism threat, quote, diverted key portions of the federal Law Enforcement and domestic security agencies at a time when the threat from the far right was building ominously. To put this challenge in context, even conservative writers believe we are now facing a constitutional crisis. For the First Time Ever we have failed to have a peaceful transfer of power and many are questioning the legitimacy of the current administration. The fact that this Divisive Political force is hateful and violent challenges all of us to redouble our efforts. I join my republican colleagues unequivocally in condemning left wing violence, but lets stop pretending that the threat of antifa is equivalent to the white supremacist threat. Vand leadsing a federal courthouse in portland is a crime, it should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but it is not equivalent to a violent attempt to overturn the results of elections nor is it equivalent to Mass Shootings targeting minority communities. This false equivalency is an insult to the brave Police Officers who were injured or lost their lives on january 6, as well as dozens of others who have been murdered in white supremacist attacks. We need to be abundantly clear that the White Supremacists and other extremists are the most significant domestic terrorism threat facing the United States today. I hope everyone in this room can look at the facts and acknowledge this and we can come together on a bipartisan basis to defeat this threat. Now id like to turn to Ranking Member grassley. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, director wray, for being here as opposed to being virtual like we have some people testifying. We all agree that what happened at the capitol january 6th was a desecration of our shared values, it was an attack on the seat of democracy. Those who engaged in violence disgraced our country and we know the statistics, at least seven people, including one u. S. Capitol Police Officer, died as a result of that day. We also know that two officers committed suicide and we know that hundreds were injured. We expect that god watches over them and their families. Those who broke the law must be prosecuted and Congress Needs answers, especially about one officer, Brian Sicknick, what happened to him. In pursuit of the facts related to january 6th, senator durbin and i have sent oversight letters to the fbi and other agencies. To date we havent received any productions. Its ticket to hold a hearing today without records, so the fbi must fully respond to congress, however, im pleased to see that many investigative cases are progressing around the country. As ive noted before, the ultimate responsibility for this attack rests on the shoulders of those who unlawfully entered the capitol. I have also made very clear that everyone involved must take responsibility for these actions that day, including our former president. Now in the wake of january 6th we must seriously examine the threats of domestic extremism, but unfortunately this threat isnt limited to the events of that terrible day. To fully address it we must examine the forms of domestic extremism that span the ideological spectrum. I hope this doesnt put me opposite senator durbin on these issues because i just heard him and i dont think i disagree with anything that he has said, but a narrow view of these matters would be intellectually dishonest. Were not serious about tackling domestic extremism if we tolerate mobs that attack some Police Officers but not all Police Officers. Were not serious about tackling domestic extremism if we care about some government building being attacked but not others. Were not serious about tackling domestic extremism if we only focus on White Supremacy movements, which isnt the only ideology thats responsible for murders and violence. Yes, White Supremacy movements may be considered the most dangerous at a given time, but somehow it wasnt last summer or wont be when the next foreign attack is attempted. We must call extremism wherever it happens across the board, left or right, every time. We must focus our resources to try to see as much of it coming as we possibly can wherever it comes from. It hardly registered in the media when marshals and secret Service Officers defended courthouses and the white house. Thats not senator durbins fault, thats the medias fault. They were called storm troopers by the speaker of the house, like they arent even human beings. Vice president harris when she was a senator supported the minnesota freedom fund, an organization that helped bail out violent rioters in minnesota, 13 staffers of a candidate for president at that time boasted on twitter that they donated to the group. According to one news report, the group paid 75,000 to get one man out of jail when he was charged with attempted murder for alleging shooting at a Police Officer during the may protests. One of the most upsetting aspects of the violence this summer has been the targeting of innocent Law Enforcement officers, just like innocent Law Enforcement officers were targeted during january 6. We had more than 700 officers being injured between may 27th last year and june 8th last year. Officers have been assaulted, slashed, struck with hammers, baseball bats and blinded by lasers. 67 secret Service Officers were injured during a threeday siege on the white house which caused then President Trump to be brought into a secure bunker. We also remember on television seeing our colleague from kentucky having a hard time getting to the white house when he wanted to go there sometime last summer. We also had the church across the street was lit on fire, across the street from the white house, as part of that continued left wing assault. More than 300 people were charged federally for their roles in those months of violence. 80 of those charged related to the use of arson and explosives. At least 14,000 people were arrested in 49 cities. At least 25 people died in violence related to the riots. There has been 280 arrests as a result of the january 6th attack compared to more than 1,000 arrests as a result of riots just in portland last year. Its been estimated that insurance losses of summers civil unrest possibly exceeded 2 billion. Its and a relatively frequent sight at summers violence events to see individuals acting in coordination, holding the a symbol for antifa, and as i said before, i dont disagree with anything i heard senator durbin say this morning, but we did have an admitted antifa adherent in portland murder a conservative protester. Supporters of that group have been charged federally for promoting riots and using molotov cocktails. Even after president bidens electoral victory, can you believe this, antifa rioters attacked the Oregon Democratic Party headquarters and they did that on inauguration day. You would think the results of the election ought to satisfy them, if thats what they wanted to accomplish in an antitrump manner of getting rid of the president as trump or trump as president. Lets not forget about left wing activists who opened fire on 24 republican congressmen and hit a Capitol Police officer, a congressional aide, a lobbyist and representative Steve Scalise at a baseball field in alexandria, virginia. And of course our colleague on the other side of the aisle had a lifethreatening injury at that time. In light of these ever present left wing threats im concerned about resource shifting talk among our colleagues across the aisle. Let me say this clearly, we arent going to defund the Anarchist Extremism Program or any other domestic terrorism program. It cant be that the fbi needs a fully funded Art Theft Program but cant afford to fight both right wing and left wing extremism. We must examine the issue of domestic terrorism broadly, very broadly, to include all forms of political extremism, domestic terrorism, whether its wherever it falls on the political spectrum. No serious oversight activity and no other policy decisions can be made without doing both as we move forward. I encourage both houses of congress to review not just the events of january 6th, but also Domestic Violence, extremism across the board and the threat it brings to our families and communities. And let me emphasize three times now nothing i heard senator durbin say do i disagree with, but we need real answers on extreme involvement, on preplanning and coordination and we also need to know what happened to officer sicknick. In closing, i want to express my sincere thanks and appreciation for Law Enforcement and in particular the Capitol Police for their efforts on the job and during the terrible events of january 6th. They are truly heroes. I yield. Thank you. Thank you, senator grassley. Director wray, would you please stand to be sworn. Do you affirm the testimony youre about to give will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . Thank you. Let the record reflect that the director answered in the affirmative. Now, director, you may proceed with your testimony. There we go. So good morning, chairman durbin, Ranking Member grassley, members of the committee. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today to talk about the great work of the men and women of the fbi. Let me start with a quick update on the investigation into the january 6th attack here at the capitol. I was appalled, like you, at the violence and destruction that we saw that day. I was appalled that you, our countrys elected leaders, were victimized right here in these very halls. That attack, that siege, was criminal behavior plain and simple and its behavior that we, the fbi, view as domestic terrorism. Its got no place in our democracy and tolerating it would make a mockery of our nations rule of law. The rule of law, of course, is our countrys bedrock and its our guiding principle at the fbi. Thats why the fbi has been working day and night across the country to track down those responsible for the events of january 6th and to hold them accountable. Were chasing down leads, were reviewing evidence, combing through Digital Media to identify, investigate and arrest anyone who broke the law that day. Our greatest partner in this investigation has been the American People themselves, your constituents. Citizens from around the country have sent us more than 270,000 Digital Media tips. Some have even taken the painful step of turning in their friends or their family members, but with their help weve identified hundreds of suspects and opened hundreds of investigationes in all but one of our 56 field offices. Of those identified we have arrested already more than 270 individuals to date, over 300 when you include the ones of our partners, with more subjects being identified and charged just about every single day. The fbi is committed to seeing this through no matter how many people it takes or how long or the resources we need to get it done because as citizens in a sense we are all victims of the january 6th assault and the American People deserve nothing less. Unfortunately, as you noted, mr. Chairman, january 6th was not an isolated event. The problem of domestic terrorism has been metastasizing across the country for a long time now and its not going away anytime soon. At the fbi weve been sounding the alarm on it for a number of years now. Ive been sounding the alarm about domestic terrorism since, i think, just about my first month on the job when i first started appearing up on the hill and have spoken about it in maybe a dozen different congressional hearings. Whenever we have had the chance we have tried to emphasize that this is a top concern and remains so for the fbi. In fact, in fact, we viewed it as such a critical threat that back in june of 2019 under my leadership we elevated racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism to our highest threat priority on the same level with isis and homegrown violent extremists where it remains to this day. Im sure were going to cover a lot of ground today but let me make one thing clear, the fbi will not tolerate agitators and extremists who plan or commit violence, period. And that goes for violent extremists of any stripe. As ive said many times, we do not investigate ideology, but we focus on acts of violence and violations of federal law and when we see those when we see those, we will bring to bear the full weight of our resources, our experience and our partnerships. And when domestic violent extremists use explosive devices, when they attack government facilities and businesses, when they assault Law Enforcement officers, when they use violence to interfere with the lawful operation of our government, they should expect the fbi to come knocking on their door, no matter where they try to run. Now, of course, these are not the only issues the fbi is focused on every day and i hope as we will discuss in more detail this morning we confront a wide variety of threats in countless other forms, like the solar winds intrusions which we are working to investigate and counter with our intelligence, Law Enforcement and private sector partners both here and abroad. Not to mention a huge range of other Cyber Threats from nation states, criminals and toxic combinations of the two. Like the vast unrelenting counterintelligence threat from china and of course the alarming threat of violence towards Law Enforcement officers, a threat thats especially close to home here in the capitol. The attack on january 6th not only resulted in the injuries of over 100 Law Enforcement officers but also the tragic death of u. S. Capitol Police OfficerBrian Sicknick in the line of duty. The threat of violence to Law Enforcement is also deeply personal for us at the fbi. Just one month ago today two of our special agents, laura swarz berger and dan alfin were tragically killed in the line of duty and four more of our agents shot and injured all while serving a search warrant. I can tell you that there is nothing, nothing more devastating, more heartbreaking than the loss of our own. The loss of two special agents who not only bravely did what i consider one of the hardest jobs in the fbi, investigating crimes against children, but who were also each parents of Young Children themselves of their own, a wife, a husband and cherished members of their communities. I know a number of members of congress including a number on this committee reached out and offered their condolences and offerings of support and i want you to know how much that means to the fbi and how much it means to me personally. Special agents Laura Schwartzenberger and dan alfin sacrificed their lives that day like far too many of our Law Enforcement brethren also killed in the line of duty. Their ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, it was to protect the American People and it was to protect each of us and its why no matter what comes our way our work to safeguard the rule of law, to protect the American People and to uphold the constitution goes on and will never stop. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today, i look forward to answering your questions. Thanks, director. We will have sevenminute rounds for members to ask questions. Let me start. And as you said at the outset, we can spend the better part of a day or jond that with all the topics of importance involving the fbi, but i really have to stay with the january 6th situation. Theres a lot of confusion about the planning and coordination by federal, state and local Law Enforcement agencies in the days leading up to the attack on the capitol. I was surprised to learn the fbi did not issue a threat assessment before january 6th. Especially because the fbis norfolk, virginia, field office had uncovered specific threats against members of congress, maps of the tunnel system under the capitol complex and places to meet before traveling together to washington. I was also surprised to hear acting d. C. Metropolitan Police Department chief Robert Contee say that his information was only conveyed to the mpd in an email at 7 00 p. M. The night before january 6. Chief contee acknowledged that the information was raw intelligence, but said he would think, quote, something as violent as an insurrection at the capitol would warrant a phone call or something, closed quote. So it comes down to the basic question of what the fbi knew, when they knew it, whether they shared it, why this didnt rise to the level of a threat assessment. So, mr. Chairman, i welcome the question. You touched on a number of points there. So first, let me say that we were in the period up leading up to january 6th tracking a large amount of information about large numbers of people coming to participate in protests and about the potential for violence. The one specific piece of information that you referred to, the information from our norfolk field office, has gotten a lot of attention so this was whats called a situational information report, was prepared by a norfolk field office, specifically for dissemination. It was raw, unverified, uncorroborated information that had been posted online. My understanding was that that information was quickly, as in within an hour, disseminated and communicated with our partners, including the u. S. Capitol police, including metro pd in not one, not two, but three different ways. Can you be more specific of the time . Three different ways. So first there was an email, as you said, to our joint Terrorism Task force which includes the joint Terrorism Task force includes Task Force Officers specifically selected by their chiefs to participate on the joint Terrorism Task forces for the very reason fob that chiefs, that departments eyes and ears so that they get the information realtime, their departments do. So thats the first piece. Second in addition to the email verbally through the command post briefing that we had because we had stood up command posts both in the Washington Field office and at headquarters and those command posts included, again, representatives of the relevant agencies, Capitol Police, mpd, et cetera, verbally the same information was walked through again. And third in addition to the email, in addition to the verbal briefing at the command post, there was the information was posted on what we call leap which is a Law Enforcement portal which is made available to Law Enforcement not just here in the National Capitol region, but all around the country. Now, again, the information was raw, it was unverified. In a Perfect World we would have taken longer to be able to figure out whether it was reliable, but we made the judgment, our folks made the judgment to get that information to the relevant people as quickly as possible. Like i said, three different ways in order to leave as little as possible to chance. I didnt see the report myself even until after the 6th, but the way in which it was handled as least as i understand it trikes me as consistent with our normal process. Director wray, i was surprised to see that reporting that dozens of individuals on the terrorist screening database also known as the terrorist watch list traveled to d. C. In the days leading up to the attack. I would have expected the Fbis Terrorist Screening Center to be aware of air travel by watch listed individuals to the washington, d. C. Area. Did the tsc notice an uptick in travel by watch listed individuals before january 6 . If yes, what steps did they take or did the fbi take in more general terms to make sure other departments and agencies it knew these dangerous individuals were on the way to the capitol . So when it comes to the watch list, i think theres a couple things i could say here today. So one is i do know that in a number of instances there were individuals on whom we had previously predicated investigations that we saw getting ready to potentially travel. These are not large numbers but a handful of people and in those instances in a number of instances we had agents in their home states or home cities approach those individuals, interview them, even if we didnt have a basis to charge somebody it dissuaded a number of those people from traveling. I guess the second thing i would say is that sometimes there is a little confusion on the watch list concept. There is a true no fly list which is what applies to individuals who under the rules provide a threat to aviation itself, and then theres what we sometimes refer to as selectees which are individuals that cant necessarily be barred in the same way from traveling, but in which theres notice given to the agents investigating those individuals and that information is then passed on. So in a number of instances that happened in the period leading up to the 6th. I dont have numbers for you, though. I just have a minute left but i want to address what i consider the next big lie after the lie that the president really won on november 3rd, President Trump. The next big lie appears to be the argument that somehow or another those were not Trump Supporters who invaded the capitol. It was it made the rounds on the internet right before they came into the building and has been gaining momentum ever since. Id like to ask you, dr. Wray, do you agree that the Capitol Attack involved white supremacist and other violent extremists. Certainly the Capitol Attack involved violent extremists. As i said we the fbi consider this a form of domestic terrorism. It included a variety of backgrounds, certainly there were quite a number, were seeing quite a number as were building out the cases on the individuals we have arrested for the violence, quite a number of what we would call militia violent extremists. We have a number who selfidentify with the proud boys or the oath keepers, things like that. We also have a couple of instances where weve already identified individuals involved in the criminal behavior who we would put in the racially motivated violent extremists who advocate for what you would call White Supremacy. So there have been some of those individuals as well. One of the things thats happening as part of this is that as we build out the cases on the individuals when we arrest them for the violence were getting a richer and richer understanding of different peoples motivations. But certainly as i said, militia violent extremism, some instances of racially motivated violent extremism specifically advocating for the superior of the white race. Based on your investigation so far do you have any evidence that the Capitol Attack was organized by, quote, fake trump protesters . We have not seen evidence of that at this stage certainly. Thank you, senator grassley . We all want to know what happened to officer Brian Sicknick, tragic death as a result of that january 6 assault. There has been conflicting reports about his cause of death. Have you determined the exact cause of death and is there a Homicide Investigation . So i will take the last part of your question first. There is an Ongoing Investigation into his death. I have to be careful at this stage because its ongoing not to get out in front of it, but i certainly understand and respect and appreciate the keen interest in what happened to him, after all, he was here protecting all of you and as soon as there is information that we can appropriately share we want to be able to do that, but at the moment the investigation is still ongoing. So does that mean since the investigation is going on you have not determined the exact cause of the death . That means we cant yet disclose a cause of death at this stage. But you have determined the cause of death . I didnt say that. Were not at a point where we can disclose or confirm a cause of death. Its important for the committee to fully understand the fbis caseload regarding domestic extremism cases. I have a series of datadriven and data centered questions for you that i will give a list of these in sequence. Id prefer the answers now but if you dont have them i will accept those answers after the hearing as long as you commit to do so. So this is a series of questions. What percentage of your investigation regarding january 6 are predicated as racially motivated violent extremists or White Supremacists originated individuals . Secondly, what percentage are other extremist ideologies for Domestic Violence extremists, homegrown violent extremists and International Extremists . How many total fbi investigations are ongoing . Of that figure, one, how many are motivated by jihadist ideology, how many are motivated by White Supremacy ideology and how many are motivated by left wing anarchists ideologies . We need data and i hope you see our need for this data. So can you answer those now or do you want to get back in writing . Well, i will certainly get back to you. Im aware that we have gotten a letter that goes through in quite detail a number of specific Data Requests and we are working on that response as we speak. There are probably some things i could say sitting here right now. As i said to the chairman, although i dont have the percentage for you, the attackers on january 6th included a number and the number keeps growing as we build out our investigations of what we would call militia violent extremism and we have had some already arrested who we would put in the category of racially motivated violent extremism white as well. Those would be the categories so far that were seeing as far as january 6th. Now, looking back, bigger picture, because i think the rest of your question goes more to our caseload overall, i could say a number of things on that. In terms of domestic violent extremism, domestic terrorism, that number is now has grown steadily on my watch. So weve increased the number of domestic terrorism investigations from around 1,000 or so when i got here to up to about 1,400 at the end of last year to about 2,000 now. Thats domestic terrorism overall. When to comes to racially motivated violent extremism that number, again, number of investigations and number of arrests has grown significantly on my watch and the number of arrests, for example, of racially motivated violent extremists who are what you would categorize as White Supremacists last year was almost triple the number it was in my first year as director. When it comes to anarchist violent extremists which is another category that you asked about that number has also grown over the course of my tenure. Last year i think we had more arrests of anarchist violent extremists than in the prior three years combined. Can i stop you there. Yeah. Because youve done a good job of giving us the overall view and i assume in writing we can get specific answers and the numbers are very important, data is very important. Former acting dhs secretary wolf has stated, quote or not quote that the lack of visibility into the anarchist Extremist Movement may have caused the federal government to be underprepared for the riots this summer. Former attorney general barr stated that the fbi has robust programs for White Supremacy and militia extremism, but is significantly weaker Anarchist Extremism Program. So unless you disagree with wolf or barr, how do you plan to make your left wing Anarchist Extremism Program as robust as your White Supremacy and militia extremist program . Well, i think thats a long and complicated question to answer in a sense, but i will give you a few things for right now. One is i think as with any domestic terrorism threat or any counterterrorism threat more broadly we are always looking to develop more and better sources, so we get more visibility insight into the plans and intentions, tactics, procedures, et cetera, of any group of violent extremists. Another is to get better at learning how to navigate around some of the operational trade craft that they use. So the more times, the more arrests we see, and this is relevant both for the anarchist violent extremists and for the racially motivated violent extremists, for example, the more arrests that you see is obviously good news for everybody that we are arresting people that need to be arrested. There is a whole another part of that thats really important that i want to emphasize which is the more arrests we make the more from those cases we learn about who else their contacts are, what their tactics are, what their strategies are, et cetera, and that makes us smarter and better able to get in front of the threat going forward. Mr. Chairman, can i ask one very short question that i think will give a short answer . And then i will submit questions in writing if we dont have a second round. Why hasnt the fbi produced the january 5th, 2021 norfolk memo to congress . So that information is Law Enforcement sensitive. Im aware of the interest and i think part of the reason had been withheld in consultation with the department had been the Ongoing Investigation that is we have, but i certainly understand the interest and i can commit to you that i will get with my staff and see if we can make that available. Thank you. Senator leahy by remote. Am i unmuted now, mr. Chairman . Yes, you are. Thank you. Director wray, thank you for being here. I dont envy you your job at all. You know, for those of us that have been here a long time we have seen the changes, dramatic changes, that go on in what you face. Youve always spoken about the truth about the threat of domestic terrorism and i know that sometimes its been politically difficult to do so. You have to deal with reality, you cant deal with the politics, so i will ask you a few quick questions. To begin with do you stand by your previous testimony that white supremacist extremism is a dominant, most persistent source of domestic terrorism threats we face today . Sorry, i couldnt hear the last part of the question which i think may be the key part so i just want to make sure do you stand by your do you stand by your previous testimony that white supremacist extremism is a dominant, most persistent source of domestic terrorism threats we face today . I would certainly say as i think ive said consistently in the past that racially motivated violent extremism, specifically of the sort that advocates for the superiority of the white race, is a persistent evolving threat. Its the biggest chunk of our racially motivated violent extremism cases for sure, and racially motivated violent extremism is the biggest chunk of our domestic terrorism portfolio, if you will, overall. I will also say that the same group of people we are talking about have been responsible for the most lethal attacks over the last, say, decade. And when i look at what happened on january 6 it appears that right wing white supremacist groups played an instrumental role in the violent assault. Is that your conclusion also . Well, let me answer that this way, i think were basically saying the same thing. We dont tend to think, we at the fbi dont tend to think of violent extremism in terms of right, left. Thats not a spectrum that we look at. What i would say is that it is clear as i think i said to chairman durbin, that a large and growing number of the people that we have arrested so far in the in connection with the 6th are what we would call militia violent extremism. Militia violent extremists. Then there have been some already who have emerged that i would put in the racially motivated line of extremist bucket. Again, advocating for the superiority of the white race. I understand from your testimony previously that you did not see antifa or left wing groups playing a significant role in the january 6th insurrection. Certainly while we are equal opportunity in looking for violent extreism of any ideology, we have not to date seen any evidence of anarchist violent extremists or people subscribing to antifa in connection with the 6th. That doesnt mean we are not that doesnt mean were not looking. At the moment we have not seen that. So what you do is you look as somebody in Law Enforcement should, you look at where the crime was and who committed it and you go after them, not some kind of political vendetta, but you committed the crime, well go after you. Is that too simplistic a way of stating it . Not simplistic at all. I think a very, very important point that youre making there and something important to us at the fbi, we focus on the violence and violations of federal law, and then the ideology comes into it as a further piece of the puzzle as we build out the case. Our focus is on the violence. We dont care what ideology motivates anybody, as judge garland said last week, we dont care if its left, right, up, down, diagonal, any other way, if the ideology is motivating violence and violates federal law were coming after. I know youre going to come before our Appropriations Committee, senator durbin and i are on that and others, for a classified briefing and so i wont go into some of the classified parts, but we are going to talk to you and i as chair of that committee am very interesting in resources. You have a finite number of resources and you have an infinite number of problems. So you have to prioritize it. I heard reports that the Previous Administration diverted fbi resources away from countering white supremacist violence, toward objectively lesser threat of left wing violence. Were you directed at all to shift resources away from right wing extremists . We did not receive direction to nor did we separate or divert resources away from tackling racially motivated extremism white to anarchist violent extremism or anything along those lines. I elevated racially extremism to our highest threat priority where it has stayed and that drives resources an the collection requirements for all of our field offices and i think the results speak for themselves. We have grown the number of investigations and arrests in the category that youre asking about. It was up to about 1400 by the end of last year and up to about 2,000 now doubled where it was the pace when i started this job. Thats what i would expect you to do, go where the crimes are and go after it. But weve seen a lot of hate crime, certainly concerns of the hate crimes against asianamericans. I was the lead cosponsor of the Matthew Shepherd hate crimes prevention, but now when we see the increases of recent fbi report indicates that 87 of Law Enforcement agencies participating in the fbis hate crime Data Collection have reported zero hate crime incidents within their jurisdictions. Do you think thats accurate . Well, certainly we are constantly trying to improve the quality and quantity of reporting on hate crimes. I think we know that historically hate crimes are under reported. Having said that, its not necessarily the case that every department is out there in the country is going to have had a hate crime in its injuredion in the jurisdiction in the course of any given year. We focus less on whether the percentage of reports that report it, we want the percentage of departments cooperating and voluntarily responding to go up and we focus more on whether or not the growth in the number of hate crimes reported overall seems to be building or not. I have other questions for the record, but youve testified before about a fusion cell developed to address hate crimes and domestic tism. Has that been helpful . It has. What youre referring to is something i put in place 18 months, two years ago, i created a domestic terrorism hate crimes fusion cell which brought together a lot of crimes could fit into a domestic terrorism bucket or a hate crimes bucket and what i was worried about was making sure within the fbi we didnt have a lefthand righthand problem and we brought together people focusing on both into a single fusion cell with the goal of trying to be proactive against some of the threats that are coming and one example i will cite that were pleased with which is an indication of the success the cell is having as we were able to get in front of and prevent an attempted explosives attack on a synagogue in colorado, and that i think is largely a credit to the fusion cell which was able to kind of help us figure out how to get in front of those kinds of attacks. Thank you, senator leahy. Thank you. Senator graham. Thank you, director wray. I will try to look forward and then talk about january 6th. Do you think the National Guard presence at the capitol at the level we have today should continue . If so, for how long . You know, senator, im not sure that im really the best equipped to evaluate the National Guard presence. Okay. Fair enough. You are the best equipped to talk about the capability of the fbi. Do you have enough people and resources to deal with all the threats weve been talking about this morning . Well, needless to say, senator, i welcome and appreciate the question. Everywhere i go someone has really good ideas antibiotic about things they think the fbi should be doing more of. I have not found things the fbi could be doing less of. Our folks are busting their you know what to deal with these threats and we need more agents and analysts and data analytics. Lets stop there because we need to learn as much as we can from january 6th. This is the 20th anniversary of 9 11. Are you concerned about International Terrorists paying us a visit . Absolutely. Okay. Are you concerned about the interaction between the International Terrorists and domestic terrorism . Thats a growing phenomenon and something were watching with concern. One of my great concerns as people flowed into the capitol you had no idea who they were and what they were carrying so it would have been easy for some International Terrorist group to intill trait this crowd, do you agree . I dont know that weve seen evidence that it did happen but thats one of the specific things were looking for. After the attack dont you think International Groups are seeing this as a vuller inability in our system. Im sure. International terrorist groups may have found a way to get closer to the capitol by integrating themselves into domestic political movements . Certainly we think the events on january 6th have been at a minimum an inspiration to a number of terrorist extremists out there and may even have been be worse than that. Heres my challenge to you. Sit down and put pen to paper and think big, not small. What do you need that you dont have in terms of agents and resources and put it to paper. Im on the Appropriations Committee with senator durbin, many of us here are. I think weve got an opportunity here to plus you up. Is it fair to say since 9 11, domestic terrorism has exploded as a threat . Well, its certainly grown dramatically. Grown dramatically which takes resources to combat, is that correct . Yes. Has the fbi grown dramatically since 9 11 . Not as dramatically as the threat. What i want you to do is take the number of agents and resources you had on 9 11 and tell us where youre at today and make sure we understand the threats youre facing are much greater than they were 20 years ago and challenge us to give you the resources to meet those threats. Back to january the 6th, is it fair to say as director of the fbi you were not informed of the raw intelligence coming from the norfolk office, is that correct . Not before january 6th. Okay. So this was an internet posting that somebody captured . My understanding is that this was information posted online under a moniker or a pseudonym. It was uncorroborated, unvetted information, an it was somewhat aspirational in nature but it was concerning, it was concerning, and specific enough that we our folks in norfolk thought the need to get it out, even if we hadnt had a chance to corroborate or vet it. Looking back, what would you have done differently with this information . Because this is a hard one. You get something on the internet thats concerning, you dont know if its true or not, you capture it, what are the Lessons Learned in terms of how we could have acted better on that information . I think the truthful answer is were still looking at that. I look at intelligence both collection analysis dissemination. We need to get better at collecting obviously, but the key part here was we often dont have the luxury of time to analyze this information before it gets disseminated. In this instance our folks in norfolk made the judgment and i think it was a reasonable judgment to get the information like i said in three different ways to their partners even though they didnt know whether it was going to turn out to be accurate