FBI Director Christopher Wray refused to comment during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday when Ted Cruz asked about reports that the special agent accused of orchestrating the entrapment of a group accused of trying to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer during the 2020 election has been promoted since then and now runs the FBI’s Washington D.C. field office, including the January 6 case.
Wray admits to Ted Cruz that the FBI special agent in charge of the Detroit field office during the Whitmer kidnapping debacle is now in charge of the DC field office during the J6 investigation. pic.twitter.com/DUsXbBX0Vt
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 4, 2022
“I can tell you that that case, as I understand it, is now pending a retrial,” Wray said about the group of mentally-ill Michigan men accused of planning to kidnap Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer during the first year of Covid, right before the 2020 election.
Cruz said: “So the guy in charge got a promotion and is now in charge of the January 6 investigation? … That is astonishing.”
“That doesn’t sound right to me,” the FBI director said, before clarifying that it was right.
SEN. TED CRUZ: [The Whitmer kidnapping case] ended up a debacle, where the four people who went to trial — two were acquitted, two received mistrials. None of them were convicted on even a single charge, and the basis of the defense was entrapment. That the paid [informants] for the FBI suggested and had incited the conduct.
How many FBI agents were disciplined or reprimanded after that disastrous case and the misconduct that led to every defendant being acquitted or having a mistrial on every charge?
CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI: I can’t comment on any personnel matter. I can tell you that that case, as I understand it, is now pending a retrial.
CRUZ: The special agent in charge of that case has now been sent to the Washington D.C. office, and now leads the investigation regarding January 6. Is that correct?
WRAY: That doesn’t sound right to me.
CRUZ: That does not sound right? The name of the individual is Steven D’Antuono. He was run out of the FBI Detriot field office.
And by the way, I will point out that the lead investigator… are you aware he was apparently fired for allegedly beating his wife after coming home from a swingers’ party, and he had made multiple derogatory political posts about President Trump, showing political bias. Are you aware of that?
WRAY: I am aware of, I think, the incident you are describing. An action that was taken about it… To clarify on the first part of your question, Mr. D’Antuono was the special agent in charge of the [Detroit field office] and is now the assistant director in charge of the Washington field office. I thought you were asking about the agent who was responsible–
CRUZ: So the guy in charge got a promotion and is now in charge of the January 6 investigation?
WRAY: The guy in charge of the whole Detroit field office is now in charge of the whole Washington field office.
CRUZ: That is astonishing.
(RealClearPolitics, 8/04/2022) (Archive)
FBI Washington Field Office ADIC, Steven D’Antuono: “Even if you’ve left D.C., agents from our local field offices will be knocking on your door if we find out that you were part of the criminal activity at the Capitol.” pic.twitter.com/1O7xCrv9UW
— The Hill (@thehill) January 13, 2021