The Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday of Donald Trump's pick to lead the FBI, Christopher Wray, included what can only be described as a red-flag exchange with GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham. Graham wanted to know if Donald Trump Jr. should have taken the meeting he took involving "sensitive information" that he was was promised would be supplied by Russia in "support" of his father’s candidacy. Here was Graham's first try at the hearing, aired on MSNBC:
Graham: Should Donald Trump Jr. have taken that meeting?
Wray: Well, senator, I'm hearing for the first time your description of it. I'm not really in a position to speak to it --
Strike one. Graham interrupts.
Graham: Let me ask you this, if I got a call from somebody saying the Russian government wants to help Lindsey Graham get reelected, they've got dirt on Lindsey Graham's opponent—should I take that meeting?
Wray: Well, Senator, I would think you would want to consult with good legal advisers before you did that.
Graham: So the answer is, should I call the FBI?
Wray: Well, Senator, I think it would be wise to let the FBI --
Strike two. Graham's had enough and decides it's time to remind Wray of the weighty job he'll be charged with doing and then engage in a little leading of the witness, since Wray clearly isn't grasping that neither colluding nor conspiring with a hostile foreign power is acceptable in the eyes of the FBI.
Graham: You're going to be the director of the FBI, pal, so here's what I want you to tell every politician: If you get a call from somebody suggesting that a foreign government wants to help you, by disparaging your opponent, tell us all to call the FBI.
Wray: To the members of this committee, any threat or effort to interfere with our elections from any nation state or any nonstate actor is the kind of thing the FBI would want to know.
Good god, this guy's joking, right? It took him three tries and a direct order from a sitting senator to finally state that campaigns should contact the FBI when they've been approached by a foreign government trying to infiltrate our elections.
It's especially head scratching when you consider that in the exchange immediately preceding it, Wray was quick to say it would be inappropriate for Ukraine to interfere in an American election.
Graham asked specifically about a January Politico report that Ukrainian officials had tried to help the Clinton camp during the 2016 election. Graham said he wasn't sure if the report was accurate, but added this:
Graham: Would you agree with me if they are true, that is wrong for the Ukraine to be involved in our elections?
Wray: Yes, senator.
Oh, so if the allegation is about Team Clinton’s potential transgressions, it's clearly wrong. But if it's about Don Jr.'s jaw-dropping four-page email exchange setting up a meeting with a Russian operative whom he believed would offer damaging intel on Hillary Clinton, it's unclear whether that type of foreign interference is a problem people should contact that FBI about.
Watch the exchange: