Dem Accuses Republicans Of Echoing Racist Mass Shooter In Gut-Punch Exchange At FBI Director Hearing

Texas Democratic Congresswoman Veronica Escobar accused elected Republicans of “echoing” a racist mass shooter in a gut-punch of a question to FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Wray testified Wednesday at a contentious hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, during which Republicans aggressively questioned him about a variety of issues.

But when Rep. Escobar took her turn to question Wray, she turned her fire on Republicans as she referenced the recent sentence given to El Paso mass shooter Patrick Crusius, and accused the “other side of the aisle” of echoing the racist language he used.

Wray empathized with Escobar before answering her broader question:

REP. ESCOBAR: Director Wray, thank you for your testimony and thank you for your public service.

Last week, in my district and my home town of El Paso, Texas, a domestic violent extremist was sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms for a horrific attack he carried out on my community on August 3rd, 2019.

On that day, he confessed that he drove over 10 hours, from his community in East Texas to mine, in order to slaughter Mexicans and immigrants.

And before he walked into that Walmart, he published his screed online, and he used some of the same ugly, xenophobic rhetoric that I hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle use.

And then he walked into that Walmart with an automatic style weapon and began shooting indiscriminately. He killed 23 people, injured dozens more. And my community remains profoundly impacted by that attack. And the victims and the survivors and the loved ones still live with profound pain and trauma.

What is the FBI doing, Director Wray, in response to racially motivated domestic terrorism?

DIRECTOR WRAY: Well, first, let me say I feel your pain. I actually visited the Walmart crime scene shortly after the attack and spent time with our folks on the ground who were processing the crime scene in blistering heat on in the parking lot there and obviously got briefed by the investigative team and met with our local partners. And obviously, it was a horrific, tragic event. And the individual stories about some of the individual victims stick with me to this day.

Watch above via C-SPAN.