'Not FBI's fault Trump surrounded himself with criminals': Dem lawmaker exposes 'cesspool of corruption' around ex-president

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) methodically took apart Republican complaints about the politicization of the Department of Justice and the FBI during a contentious hearing of the House Judiciary Committee.

FBI director Christopher Wray appeared before the panel to address GOP complaints about investigations involving Donald Trump, and Lieu used his time to highlight a litany of the former president's allies, associates and advisers who had been convicted of crimes during his own administration.

"Trump adviser Roger Stone was convicted in a federal court, correct?" Lieu said, and Wray agreed. "Trump donor Elliott Broidy was convicted in a federal court, correct? The attorney general at the time for those two convictions was Bill Barr. Which president nominated Bill Barr for attorney general?"

Wray responded that Trump had nominated Barr, and Lieu listed former Trump attorney Michael Cohen's two convictions in federal court, and the FBI director recalled that the Trump-appointed acting attorney general at that time was Matthew Whitaker.

"Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted in federal court, correct?" Lieu said, and Wray agreed. "Trump's former deputy campaign manager Rick Gates was convicted in federal court, correct? Trump's campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos was convicted in federal court, correct?"

Wray recalled that Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty, and he agreed that the attorney general for all three of those cases was Trump appointee Jeff Session, and he stated that he had been FBI director for all the cases Lieu had listed and that he himself had been appointed by the former president.

"What these facts show is that we don't have a two-tier system of justice," Lieu said. "We have one Department of Justice that goes after criminals regardless of party ideology. All of these folks were convicted under the administrations of three separate Republican attorneys general. It is not the fault of the FBI that Donald Trump surrounded himself with criminals. Donald Trump brought that on himself. Thank you to the FBI for exposing the cesspool of corruption of these Trump associates."

Watch the video at this link.

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