FBI director warns of 'violent gangs,' 'child predators' and 'terrorist attacks' if agency is defunded

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday warned of the dire consequences to the safety and security of the United States if right-wing Republicans in Congress manage to make good on their calls to "defund" the FBI.

Wray's remarks were part of his testimony before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.

"We would have hundreds more violent criminals out on the street," Wray said. "Dozens more violent gangs terrorizing communities; hundreds more child predators on the loose; hundreds more kids left at those predators' mercy instead of being rescued; scores of threats from the Chinese Communist party being left unaddressed; hundreds of ransomware attacks left unmitigated; and terrorist attacks, both jihadist inspired and domestic violent extremists, not prevented that would succeed against Americans."

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Crippling the FBI would also curtail "single seizures of fentanyl," Wray continued. "It is not uncommon right now for a single FBI office in a single operation to seize enough fentanyl to wipe out an entire state, so many, many, many, many more of those lethal doses would be sweeping the country. We have close to four hundred, I think it is somewhere between three hundred and four hundred investigations into the leadership of the cartels trafficking that fentanyl. So you would have a significantly greater threat from the southwest border, from the cartels. So those are just a few things that would happen."

Wray added that if fringe GOP lawmakers' efforts are successful, "Ultimately, the people most hurt by some ill-conceived effort to defund our agency, the people most hurt, are the American people that live in every district represented on this committee."

Watch below or at this link.

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