FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

As one might have predicted, he did his best to avoid answering any substantive questions, raising again the point that the FBI needs a very thorough house cleaning as soon as possible. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) went to town on Wray, bringing up Hunter Biden’s WhatsApp message shaking down Chinese businessman Henry Zhao and bringing up the hundreds of thousands of illegal FISA requests. He noted how many of the improper queries had to do with Jan. 6 and pointed out how that contradicted what Wray had previously testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

While Gaetz and some of the Republicans were on fire, Democrats were scrambling to try to spin anything that might hurt Joe Biden. Perhaps one of the worst takes along those lines was from Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA). Imagine this take on all the problematic issues of Hunter Biden’s laptop. According to Swalwell, Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) was “upset” that the FBI prevented more Americans from finding out about a “private citizen’s laptop.” “That is bananas to me!” Swalwell whined, doing his best to mischaracterize the facts.

Eric Swalwell says that it's "bananas" to believe that the censorship of the Hunter Biden laptop story influenced the 2020 election:

"The 2020 election was determined…because he FBI didn't let more Americans see a private citizen's nonconsensual nudes?! Is that what we're… pic.twitter.com/w3gPCTkOoy

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 12, 2023

Swalwell claimed the Republicans were bringing up FISA violations “every single question.” He said Republicans were trying to argue that: “The 2020 election was determined…because the FBI didn’t let more Americans see a private citizen’s nonconsensual nudes?! Is that what we’re saying here?!”

Of course, that isn’t what anyone is saying except Swalwell. What gall to try to justify the suppression of the laptop from the American people by casting it as a “private citizen’s nonconsensual nudes.” How convenient to skip out on all the facts: that it was abandoned, that it was turned over to the FBI, that it was sat on, that social media suppressed it. That kept the American people from knowing more about the laptop before the election — all about the foreign dealings and the alleged influence peddling, among the alleged problems on the laptop. He wants to skip right over the “10 percent for the Big Guy” and the payments from people connected to foreign governments like China. Polls have shown yes, a massive number of Americans believe it would have made a difference in the election. One poll in August of last year said 79 percent thought the information would have turned the election more in favor of Donald Trump.

He doesn’t realize how he tells on himself. And he should be concerned about the violation of Americans’ rights under FISA as well. But what he’s concerned about is that the laptop might hurt the Democrats’ chance to hold onto power. So he wants to paint the laptop as being about privacy and nudes. He’s not upset at all about all the hundreds of thousands of FISA violations, but he is upset that people might see the alleged crimes on the laptop.

Then, Swalwell is the same guy who raised a lot of concerns over his relationship with Fang Fang. That’s why he was booted off the Intelligence Committee by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Maybe he should be the last one commenting or trying to spin Hunter’s laptop that reveals the Biden connections to the Chinese. As I reported the other day, once the FBI gave Swalwell a defensive briefing when it came to Christine Fang, that ended the investigation into the matter. A former FBI official in the counterintelligence world is now talking about that as part of the politicization of the FBI. No wonder Swalwell is spinning on behalf of the FBI.

If that defense wasn’t enough, then Swalwell finished off with a tongue bath of the FBI, taking some of his time to talk about FBI “Family Day.”

Eric Swalwell uses a blockbuster hearing with FBI Director Christopher Wray to ask about the Bureau's "family day" pic.twitter.com/V5wDjOq04N

— Dylan Housman (@Dylan_Housman) July 12, 2023

Gee, that’s holding them to account for violating the rights of Americans.

“Can you tell us what Family Day is?” Swalwell inquired.

Wray responded:

Family Day is an opportunity for employees from, really, all over the FBI. Uh, Tends to be primarily from the nearby geography because of the trip they have to make. Employees bring their families into FBI headquarters so that they can see a little bit about the place their loved ones work and why mom or dad is spending so much time away from home.

“You see the little kids on family day?” Swalwell asked.

Wray confirmed:

Many, many, many. It’s an opportunity for us to say ‘thank you’ to the families. You know, we talk a lot in law enforcement about sacrifice. But the reality is that law enforcement officers or professionals are sacrificing to do what they love. Our families are sacrificing because of who they love.

Can it get any more saccharine than that? And I don’t know about you, but it sounds to me like Wray was ready and prepared with that response. Did Swalwell tell him he was going to ask it?

Notice how Wray will go to great lengths when prompted by Swalwell about “Family Day,” but he can’t be bothered to give substantive responses to all the concerning questions about the troublesome actions of his people.