Christopher Wray must be prosecuted

The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation has one job above all: Tell the truth. The FBI’s motto — “Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity” — demands it. But beyond the moral and professional imperative, the director has a legal duty when communicating with Congress. Former Director Christopher Wray failed that duty. On Thursday, the Oversight Project submitted a criminal referral to the Department of Justice and FBI, calling for an investigation — and prosecution if warranted.

The case against Wray centers on two major failures.

Transparency matters, but accountability is what the American people demand.

First, U.S. Customs and Border Protection intercepted 20,000 scannable fake driver’s licenses produced by the Chinese Communist Party. The licenses were part of an election interference scheme aimed at boosting mail-in ballots for Joe Biden in 2020. Current FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino confirmed this in recent disclosures to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), noting that prior FBI leadership “chose to play politics and withhold key information from the American people.” Wray had to have known. He testified repeatedly that the 2020 election was secure. That was a lie.

Second, Wray misled Congress about the FBI’s so-called “Catholic memo.” He claimed it came from a single Richmond office and had been withdrawn. But new documents show the FBI circulated over a dozen related files to more than 1,000 employees and even drafted a broader version for wider circulation. As Grassley put it, “[Wray] is lying, and he ought to be followed up. Because if people that lie to Congress aren’t held accountable, it encourages more people to lie.”

The Oversight Project’s referral highlights three key moments when Wray gave sworn testimony contradicted by documented evidence. In September 2020, appearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, he denied any coordinated voter fraud effort. In March 2021, he flatly repeated his claim that foreign interference posed no threat — despite growing evidence suggesting otherwise. Yet Wray received regular briefings from Nikki Floris, head of the FBI’s 2020 election security and Foreign Influence Task Force. He acknowledged China’s malign influence campaign as early as July 2020. That alone undercuts his claims of ignorance.

The idea that Wray didn’t know about either scandal doesn’t hold water. Either he knew and lied — or he didn’t want to know. In both cases, that’s disqualifying.

And Wray’s record doesn’t earn him the benefit of the doubt.

He dismissed Antifa as an “ideology,” despite clear evidence of coordinated violent activity across multiple cities. He created the Foreign Influence Task Force that censored speech protected by the First Amendment — flagging the Hunter Biden laptop story and labeling credible sources as conspiracy theorists. He unleashed unprecedented FBI resources to pursue low-level January 6 offenders while ignoring real threats from abroad.

Under Wray, the bureau chased Republicans over flimsy allegations and turned a blind eye to millions flowing from Communist China to the Biden family. He rewarded agents who knelt for BLM while punishing whistleblowers who questioned the bureau’s politicization.

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He effectively turned Pride Month into Pride Years, flooding the agency with DEI and LGBTQ propaganda instead of focusing on mission-critical tasks like national security and counterintelligence.

The FBI under Wray mocked its legal obligations — not just to Congress, but to the public. The bureau continues to fight in court to block the release of documents that would confirm its abuse of power.

Wray’s legacy is a textbook case of weaponization: Act aggressively when evidence hurts the political right, and bury it when it implicates the left. His repeated failures to disclose vital election-related information — and his lies about targeting Catholic Americans — expose a deeper pattern of deception.

The Oversight Project’s criminal referral gives the Justice Department and the FBI a chance to restore trust. Transparency matters, but accountability is what the American people demand.

And this case is only the beginning. We believe Wray and others at the FBI participated in a broader conspiracy to violate Americans’ civil rights. Investigating that conspiracy should begin with one simple act: prosecuting Christopher Wray.