High-ranking FBI and Justice Department officials could be summoned to Capitol Hill next year to provide an account for their recent investigatory actions, according to U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn).
When asked Wednesday about his confidence level in the nation’s chief law enforcement agency, Tuberville said it was “not very good — especially the administration in the FBI.”
“There’s a lot of things going on that a lot of people are just shaking their head and wondering, ‘What’s going on here?’ You’re having just regular citizens across the country, simply for the fact that they supported Donald Trump, that they’re going in an investigating them,” said Tuberville.
Republicans’ calls to scrutinize the agency were heightened after Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound was raided by the FBI in early August. Concerns over the investigative actions of the FBI, however, span beyond its targeting of the former president.
Numerous supporters of the 45th president have come forward to detail that their homes had been visited by the FBI. Some of whom the agency had reasonable suspicion to believe they played a role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
New Jersey resident Lisa Gallagher recently told Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” that the FBI paid her a visit a day after President Joe Biden delivered his Philadelphia speech railing against “MAGA forces.”
Gallagher said she was “terrified” over the potential of being arrested, despite having no involvement in the riot.
A more prominent supporter of Trump’s, My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, revealed Sept. 13 that he had his phone seized by the FBI while at a Hardee’s drive-thru in Minnesota.
When reached for comment by NBC News, the FBI declined to provide an explanation for the action, simply noting that agents were “at that location executing a search warrant authorized by a federal judge.”
Asserting that “huge problems” exist within the DOJ and FBI, Tuberville indicated the investigatory efforts appear to be “one-sided.”
“They’re taking their phones, they’re looking at their records. You know, there’s got to be some oversight to the DOJ and the FBI,” he said. “They’ve been two great institutions for this country. But right now it looks like we’re having huge problems. There’s not a lot of confidence up here on the Hill with the FBI, especially with the Republican side. It seems to be one-sided.”
This week, Politico reported congressional Republicans “are preparing a buffet of investigations” next year “aimed at touching every aspect of the agency’s decision-making.”
“Hopefully we can shake out some answers in the very near future,” said Tuberville. “Hopefully when and, if we do, take over Congress, we can have more hearings, bring more people to the Hill and get to the bottom of this. Because the American people are losing confidence too — not just Republicans — but also Democrats. This is getting way out of control.
“As a lot of things going on up here, it seems like one thing after another. A lot of it has to do with our FBI and the DOJ. Hopefully, we can get some answers in the near future. There’s not a whole lot of confidence now in the upper administration of the FBI and the DOJ.”
