Judging Freedom - The FBI in the Hot Seat

Episode Date: June 15, 2022

#FBI #tedcruzSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hi, everyone. Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Wednesday, June 15, 2022. It's about 1.55 in the afternoon. Yesterday, I caught a clip of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing interrogating an official of the FBI trying to find out who, what, when, where was going on in January 6th. While the January 6th committee is meeting on the House side of the Capitol, the Senate Judiciary Committee is trying to find out what was the FBI involvement, if any, in January 6th on the Senate side of the Capitol. We're going to run a clip for you. The person doing the interrogating is Senator Ted Cruz. I don't agree with him on a lot of things, but I agree with him on this, and he's doing a great job of questioning the witness. The witness is not FBI Director Chris Wray. I wish it had been. Rather, it is Jill Sanborn, Assistant Executive Director of the FBI's

National Security Branch. She's an experienced FBI agent. She's the one that they lately have been sending to Congress to give non-answers. So you tell me if you're as frustrated with her non-answers as Senator Cruz is and as I have been. Did any FBI agents or confidential informants actively participate in the events of January 6th? Yes or no? Sir, I can't answer that. Did any FBI agents or confidential informants commit crimes of violence on January 6th? I can't answer that, sir. Did any FBI agents or FBI informants actively encourage and incite

crimes of violence on January 6th? Sir, I can't answer that. Ms. Sanborn, who is Ray Epps? I'm aware of the individual. I don't have the specific background to him. Ms. Sanborn, was Ray Epps a fed? Sir, I cannot answer that question. The next day on January 6th, Mr. Epps is seen whispering to a person, and five seconds later, that same person begins to forcibly tear down the barricades. Did Mr. Epps urge them to tear down the barricades? Similar to the other answers, I cannot answer that. How frustrating. I wish that Chris Wray, who's the director of the FBI and who's been confirmed by the United States Senate, this woman, Agent Sanborn, is not a person that's been confirmed by the Senate. But I wish that Director Wray had been there and I wish the interrogation had been in person. Look, I understand that during active criminal investigations, you can't start releasing information about them. But I also understand the

American public has the right to know the basics about what the FBI does for it. In my opinion, there's a great constitutional question about whether the FBI is even authorized by the Constitution and whether the FBI should even exist. But they do exist. We know they create crimes and then they solve the crimes. They're not real crimes. They're fake crimes. Nobody was ever harmed. They usually find a dupe, bring him to one step before the actual commission of the crime,

swoop in and arrest him and take credit for it. Is that what happened on January 6th? Well, we don't know. We know from other sources that the government believes that this fellow Ray Epps was not an agent or the government claims that he was not an agent. In one of the criminal cases, one of the conversations that this guy Ray Epps,pps might never heard of, had with somebody at the scene was actually taped somehow. The feds got it and the feds gave it to criminal defense lawyers. But in terms of what the American public has the right to know, was the FBI there? If so, what were they doing there? Did they encourage any unlawful activity? Did they

commit crimes themselves? Those questions can be answered without compromising prosecutions, because you're not naming a specific defendant. You're just talking in general about the FBI. I want those questions, Senator Cruz, if you're listening. A friend of mine from a long time ago, we met in a debate at Princeton University on the Patriot Act. I don't know if I changed his mind. But anyway, we've been friends ever since. Senator, if you're listening, we'll talk to you anytime you want. You know that. But more important than you and I speaking would be you asking those very same questions again to the person for whose confirmation you voted, Chris Wray, and threatening him if he doesn't answer. Threaten him with contempt. At some point, he's not going to be the FBI director any longer.

At some point, he's going to want to go back to Atlanta, Georgia and resume practicing law. If the Senate has held him in contempt, that's going to be an obstacle to his practicing law, and he knows that. I'm as angry as you are, Senator Cruz, and I can see from the emails that are coming in, many of the good people, everybody who watches the show is a good person, many of the good people, everybody who watches the show is a good person. Many of the good people watching Judging Freedom are angry as well. We have the right to know what the FBI does in our names. They're on thin constitutional ice to begin with. If it turns out that they committed crimes on January 6th or encouraged January 6th or had anything whatsoever to do with the planning of January 6th, we all need to know about it. I don't know how intellectually

honest the January 6th committee is, but FBI involvement would be a bombshell right in the very week when they're holding their hearings, and we want to know. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. And we want to know. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.