Press Releases

Washington, D.C. (April 2, 2025)—Today, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight, delivered opening remarks at a hearing examining the Trump Administration’s agenda of lawlessness and retribution at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Below are Ranking Member Crockett’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, at today’s hearing.

WATCH  Ranking Member Crockett’s opening statement.

Ranking Member Jasmine Crockett
Subcommittee on Oversight
Hearing on “Inside the Biden FBI: Waste, Fraud, Abuse, and a Bureau 
Leadership in Decline”
April 2, 2025

Thank you Mr. Chairman.

Here we are again, talking about Biden, Biden, Biden. 

Today is nothing more than a dog and pony show for Republicans to avoid facing the American people for their trash policies that are killing the economy and our democracy.

Despite Republicans’ claim of backing the blue and being the party of law and order—we’re here today because Republicans are willing to throw our country’s top law enforcement agents under the bus to appease Trump and execute his political vengeance.

Now, I know remembering things is hard for my colleagues on the other side—like remembering not to add reporters into a Signal chat discussing military war plans.

But let me remind my colleagues that it was Trump who decided to store national secrets and classified documents next to his oversized bathtub and toilet at Mar-a-Lago.

It was Trump who took the documents out of the boxes and shared them with his guests.

It was Trump who told his staff to move the boxes when the FBI was coming.

And it was Trump who appointed Director Christopher Wray as head of the FBI—the same Director that allowed the investigation to move forward.

As much as Trump and Republicans hate to accept it—we are still a country with laws. And when you break them, there are consequences.

Now, make no mistake—we should all be concerned about the FBI.

But my concerns as Ranking Member of this Subcommittee, as a Member of Congress, as an attorney, and as a citizen are based on this thing called facts.

And when I say facts, I mean clear, indisputable facts —not those alternative facts my Republican colleagues continue pushing onto the American people.

So, let’s talk about facts.

Fact: Even prior to being confirmed by the Senate, Kash Patel was directing officials within the FBI to fire members within the Bureau simply because they worked on the lawful investigations into Trump.

Fact: Patel failed to disclose his previous work and financial ties with the country of Qatar, a country that—had you had read the Mazars Report released last year by the House Oversight Committee you would know—paid close to half a million Dollars to Trump while he was President of the United States.

Unsurprisingly, the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force was recently disbanded, and the DOJ has also cut back on its Foreign Agents Registration Act enforcement. Our enemies are jumping up and down now that we’re doing their work for them.

Another Fact: Patel has never even been an FBI agent and is now leading the Bureau. Even one of today’s Republican witnesses’ organizations, the Reform the Bureau, has advocated having an FBI Agent lead the Bureau.

But rather than confirm a Director with credible, dedicated experience, the Republicans confirmed a political loyalist with NO Quantico or FBI training… Talk about a DEI—didn’t earn it—hire.

Another Fact: Patel—who rails against telework and what he calls lazy agents—was working part time in-and-out of Las Vegas, commuting back and forth between there and DC, while also living in the home of GOP mega-donor.

Think about that for a second.

Could you imagine what Republicans would have done had James Comey been living in New York part-time as FBI Director, and if his New York home was owned by, say, George Soros?

Speaker Johnson would have forced a floor vote on articles of impeachment within DAYS of this news coming out.

But nevertheless, my Republican colleagues are willing to sacrifice safety for stupidity as long as its he’s loyal.

Another Fact: Patel and Trump-backed FBI leadership have redirected FBI agents who were working on investigations involving violent crimes against children and child exploitation and transferred them to work on anti-Tesla attacks and redacting Jeffrey Epstein files. Talk about FBI waste and abuse.

You simply can’t make this stuff up.

To be clear, Director Wray testified before Congress last year, noting that “if each one of the FBI’s cyber agents and intelligence analysts focused exclusively on the China threat, China’s hackers would still outnumber FBI cyber personnel by at least 50 to 1.”

Yet rather than hire more agents to protect against these cybersecurity threats, Director Patel is reassigning agents to redact Epstein files.

Someone, please tell me how this makes America safe?

It’s almost as ridiculous and wasteful as Patel’s idea to contract the Bureau with UFC fighters.

And while I have very real concerns about the current state of the FBI today—I want to be very clear:

My concerns aren’t with the career agents—the men and women dedicating their lives to protect our country, and communities.

It’s with the irresponsible leadership and reckless decisions coming from Patel, Trump, and the DOGE staff within the FBI.

Our Bureau needs resources to do its job effectively—what it doesn’t need is 20-something year old DOGE-bags reviewing materials without having undergone proper vetting and clearance.

The American people have a right to be worried—but these worries shouldn’t be based on Republican baseless conspiracy theories.

Our county is already on a dangerous path, pushing closer to causing irreparable harm.

Republican members need to wake up and put Trump loyalties aside to engage in real oversight of the current FBI before it’s too late.

Congress deserves it, the brave men and women at the Bureau deserve it, and the American people deserve it.

I want to thank our witnesses for being here today and I look forward to our discussion. With that I yield back to the Chairman.