(Ken Silva, Headline USA) FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday about the assassination attempt against presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, but Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., used most of his time to ask about perhaps the only political topic more important than the Trump shooting: Who is running the country?
Gaetz began by asking Wray how many times he briefs President Joe Biden. Wray said sometimes he goes months without briefing the president, but other times he’ll provide briefings within days of each other.
Rep. Matt Gaetz asks FBI Director Christopher Wray when he started to notice Joe Biden’s cognitive decline: “We've had it observed so often that the ranking member and Mr. Schiff on this committee said he could no longer continue as a candidate.. So who’s running the country?” pic.twitter.com/vOUVX90rXJ
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) July 24, 2024
“When did you notice his decline?” Gaetz asked Wray as a follow-up, to which the FBI director responded: “All my interactions with the President have been completely professional.”
Gaetz kept pressing. He clarified that he wasn’t seeking Wray’s opinion about Biden’s professionalism, but about his ability to process information.
“I don’t meet with him very often, but what you’re describing is not something I’ve observed during my interactions,” Wray insisted. That prompted incredulity from Gaetz, who noted that even Biden’s own party has noticed his cognitive decline.
“Who’s running the country? If something happens, do you brief Biden now?” Gaetz asked.
Wray provided a non-answer:
“And I’ve briefed him they’ve all been uneventful and unremarkable,” Wray said again, prompting Gaetz to quip: “I bet they have.”
“I take you at your word that this is the most complicated threat environment of your career,” Gaetz continued.
“Is Biden up to it? And if he’s not, who’s been in on the conspiracy theory to hide Biden throughout the years. It never occurred to you in all your briefings that this guy wasn’t up to the task?”
Wray stuck to his story: “As I said, my briefings with the president have all been completely fine. There hasn’t been anything of note.”
While Wray claims to not have noticed Biden’s cognitive decline, other federal investigators have. Special Counsel Robert Hur, for instance, cited Biden’s failing cognitive abilities as a reason for not prosecuting him for mishandling classified information.
“Mr. Biden’s memory was significantly limited, both during his recorded interviews with the ghostwriter in 2017, and in his interview with our office in 2023,” Hur said in his February report on the matter.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
