Republican Representative Briggs Wants To Go After The FBI; After Agency Conducted An Internal Audit That Found 747 ‘Compliance Errors’ Across 353 Separate Cases

It was reported by Fox that Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., contends Democrats have a stake in digging for more details about the FBI breaking its own rules to probe elected officials, political candidates, religious organizations and the news media.

The FBI conducted an internal audit, a highly redacted version of which came to light earlier this month, that found 747 “compliance errors” across 353 separate cases in the category of “sensitive investigative matters.” The bureau acknowledged the 2019 audit findings were “unacceptable.” 

While the FBI has faced increased scrutiny in recent years for alleged politicized investigations into former President Donald Trump, the problems apparently are much broader and likely go beyond the report, said Biggs, a member of the House Judiciary Committee.  

“It possibly includes information about the surveillance of candidate Trump and later President Trump. But this is almost 750 compliance problems in 350 cases,” Biggs told Fox News. “The next step is to call on the committee to have a hearing on this. If I was in the majority, I would want to get to the bottom of this. I suspect this conduct goes back for multiple administrations and has been an ongoing problem affecting members of both parties.” 

Biggs signed onto a March 21 letter with the House Judiciary Committee’s ranking member Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., to FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting an unredacted copy of the report, documents referring to or relating to the audit, an explanation of whether the FBI resolved the matters and a description of the FBI’s predicate to open investigations into politicians, religious groups and others named in the audit.  

Biggs said, as of Thursday, he has not received a response to the letter of inquiry.  

He added that if the Democratic-controlled House doesn’t investigate the matter and is unwilling to compel production of documents and testimony from the FBI, then a new Republican House majority will be ready to investigate and hold hearings in 2023.  

“We can’t let this go. It’s an important issue. We’ve got to get to the bottom of it,” Biggs said. “The Judiciary Committee will have oversight in the next session of Congress.”  

An FBI spokesperson confirmed the bureau did receive the letter from the three GOP House members but did not say whether it would respond to the members or when.  

“The FBI takes compliance very seriously, especially when it comes to sensitive investigative matters, which is why, in 2019, we conducted an internal audit of those matters,” the spokesperson said in an email response to Fox News. “While the number of deviations from FBI approval, notification and administrative requirements noted in the report is unacceptable, we began implementing important changes in training and raising awareness even prior to issuance of the report, and we remain committed to ensuring all personnel adhere to our internal investigative and operational guidelines.”