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WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, at a House Judiciary Committee hearing concerning oversight of the FBI, U.S. Representative Mike Johnson (LA-04) grilled Director Christopher Wray over the plummeting public trust in the Bureau and the recent federal court opinion that uncovered “arguably the most massive attack against free speech in United States history.”

Click here to watch the Congressman’s remarks

On the Public’s Declining Trust in the FBI:

“The American people that we represent are losing count of the scandals that are mounting. They’ve seen evidence that it's (the FBI) being used as a political tool by the Biden Administration. They've seen counterterrorism resources being used against school parents, the homes of conservative political opponents being raided, they've seen conservative states being targeted over their election integrity laws, and they’ve seen conservative Catholics and pro-life citizens characterized as violent extremists,” Johnson said.

“Just last month, as you know, former special counsel John Durham sat right in that seat and testified that the Justice Department and the FBI should never have launched the bogus Trump-Russia investigation. And his lengthy report reluctantly concluded that the FBI ‘failed to uphold its mission of strict fidelity to the law,’” Johnson continued.

“Last week, NBC had a poll — only 37% of registered voters now view the FBI positively. 35% had a negative view in 2018. By comparison, 52% of the country had a positive view of the FBI. There's a serious decline in the people's faith. And it's on your watch, sir,” he concluded.

On the Louisiana Federal Court Opinion on Censorship:

“On July 4th, we had this explosive, explosive 155 page opinion from a federal court in my home state, Louisiana. It explains in detail that the FBI has been directly involved in what the court says is, ‘arguably the most massive attack against free speech United States history.’ The court ordered the White House, DOJ, and FBI, among others, to immediately cease colluding with and coercing social media companies to suppress American speech. Of course, conservative speech in particular,” Johnson said.

“Let me tell you what the court concluded, because it should be the first thing you think about every morning and the last thing you think about at night,” Johnson continued. “They said that, ‘The court found apparently the FBI engaged in a massive effort to suppress disfavored conservative speech and blatantly ignored the First Amendment right to free speech.’ The evidence shows the FBI threatened adverse consequences to social media companies if they did not comply with its censorship request,” he concluded.