Marjorie Taylor Greene condemns FBI director for upholding First Amendment
Tom Rogan
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) oddly condemned FBI Director Christopher Wray for upholding the Constitution on Wednesday.
To be clear, the FBI and the Department of Justice require close congressional scrutiny. Apparent politicization, especially at senior ranks, is of particular concern, as is political interference in prosecutions such as those involving Iranian terrorism. Still, Greene chose an absurd line of attack at this hearing. She began by confusing the FBI with the Department of Homeland Security and expressing surprise that Wray hadn’t read her Twitter feed before coming to Congress. Greene then demanded that the FBI investigate Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) for belonging to a Facebook group. Greene held up a placard emblazoned with a Fox News story on how members of the Facebook group in question have praised Hamas’s attack on Israel.
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Yes, Tlaib’s membership in this Facebook group might be indicative of her hatred of Israel. But belonging to a controversial Facebook group cannot alone constitute cause for the FBI to launch a counterterrorism investigation. Most of us would understand why it is a good thing that our individual political views are not subject to law enforcement action.
Greene does not.
When she demanded whether the FBI was “interested” in Tlaib’s membership, Wray responded, “We’re not investigating people for being members of a Facebook group.” Greene pushed the point. Wray responded that the FBI has “multiple investigations into individuals affiliated with Hamas and they’re active investigations.” But Greene rebuked him, demanding why the FBI wouldn’t investigate Tlaib personally. Wary made the point that the FBI could only launch investigations on the basis of legal cause, or “predication.”
This is a basic principle of Constitutional and criminal law. Without adherence to that principle, the FBI would be a police state agency able to investigate people on whatever subjective whim it held in any one moment. Greene wasn’t happy with this answer. She angrily condemned the FBI director for what she again argued was his excessive focus on unfair investigations related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Greene is an elected member of Congress with the right to ask Wray whatever she wants. And again, the FBI deserves tough questions on a range of issues including investigative predicate. The problem is that Greene’s questions on Wednesday pursued the very same cause that she claims most to oppose: FBI intrusions against civil liberties. Were the FBI to accept Greene’s demands for an FBI investigation of Tlaib, it would be breaching Tlaib’s First Amendment rights. If Greene’s predicate stance were adopted, the FBI would no longer be an imperfect law enforcement agency. It would become the agency of a police state.
That’s not something any of us should want.