Republican Ken Buck: FBI Director Christopher Wray Is ‘Doing His Very Best’

Republican Rep. Ken Buck (CO) broke from his GOP colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee and thanked FBI Director Christopher Wray for his service on Wednesday, then spoke with CNN and claimed Wray is “doing his very best.”

House Republicans on the Judiciary Committee grilled Wray at a Wednesday hearing over issues related to alleged civil liberties violations by the government. For example, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) pressed Wray for answers on the agency’s involvement with investigations into Hunter Biden.

Watch: “ARE YOU PROTECTING THE BIDENS?” — Gaetz GRILLS FBI Director Wray

House Committee on the Judiciary / YouTube

Gaetz bluntly asked Wray, “Are you protecting the Bidens?” to which Wray responded, “Absolutely not.”

However, Buck used his allotted time to praise Wray and the FBI. Buck recognized that Wray was appointed assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s criminal division by former Republican President George W. Bush and ultimately landed at the top of the FBI after former President Donald Trump appointed him to his position.

Buck told Wray:

According to Wikipedia, you’re still a registered Republican. And I hope you don’t change your party affiliation after this hearing is over. But I want to thank you. I want to thank you for leading an agency, as you mentioned in your opening statement, that protects Americans from foreign terrorists, an agency that protects Americans from spies from China and Russia, and cybercrime and public corruption and organized crime and drug cartels and human traffickers and white-collar criminals.

And I want to thank you and the FBI for protecting law-abiding Americans from the evil that exists all around us. Director Wray, you know this, but it’s worth mentioning again, anyway, the FBI doesn’t protect America because this is a beautiful country.

Buck then spoke with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday and reiterated his praise for Wray, saying the FBI director is “doing his very best to make sure that the FBI follows the evidence.”

Buck also told Tapper he believes “the FBI is largely treated unfairly in how it has been perceived and portrayed in the public.”

Buck added that calls to reduce the FBI’s budget are “really irresponsible.”

“Obviously, if the FBI has inefficient programs or wasteful programs, absolutely we should look at reducing that as part of a deficit reduction program. But to target the FBI as punishment is absurd,” Buck told Tapper.

Speaking about the Justice Department’s recent indictment of Hunter Biden whistleblower Gal Luft, Buck said he would be “very surprised if the FBI targeted somebody inappropriately if they targeted them.” Still, Buck recognizes that Luft could provide “valuable information” about the Hunter Biden investigation.

Wray is not the only Biden administration official Buck has defended in recent months. While Republicans like Rep. Andy Biggs were leading the effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Buck told Punchbowl News in June that “it’s a little premature to say anything at this point.”

“I want to see the evidence and look at the standard and make a decision,” Buck said. “We can move as fast as they want, as long as the evidence is presented in some sort of way and [Mayorkas] has a chance to rebut it.”

Buck also defended former Rep. Liz Cheney when she was removed from her position as GOP conference chair in 2021, saying she was canceled “for speaking her mind and disagreeing with the narrative that President Trump was putting forward.”

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.