FIRST ON FOX: Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn despatched a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Friday demanding solutions relating to the highest federal legislation enforcement company’s “radical” DEI practices following the surprising New 12 months’s Day terrorist assault in New Orleans.
“Whereas the details surrounding this unconscionable assault proceed to emerge, what we all know is deeply troubling: the suspect was in possession of weapons, improvised explosive gadgets, and an ISIS flag. This horrific incident constitutes a blatant act of terror on the American homeland, and the folks of our nation need to know whether or not federal legislation enforcement businesses can sufficiently forestall and reply to such incidents,” Blackburn wrote in her letter to Wray on Friday, which was completely obtained by Fox Information Digital.
“To that finish, I’m deeply involved that—below your management—the Bureau has prioritized Variety, Fairness, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives over its core mission of defending the American folks,” the Tennessee senator continued.
Chaos broke out on New Orleans’s famed Bourbon Road simply after 3 a.m. on New 12 months’s Day, when a truck plowed via crowds of revelers celebrating the vacation. Not less than 14 folks had been killed and 30 others injured.
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Christopher Wray testifies earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee on his nomination to be the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation within the Dirksen Senate Workplace Constructing on Capitol Hill on July 12, 2017 in Washington, D.C. (Picture by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Picture by MANDEL NGAN/AFP by way of Getty Pictures) (Getty Pictures)
The suspect, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a twice-divorced Military veteran from Texas, was armed with a Glock and a .308 rifle through the assault. He was killed after opening fireplace on police.
After the assault unfolded on Wednesday morning, Blackburn took to social media to name for the affirmation of President-elect Donald Trump’s choose to steer the FBI, Kash Patel, and to admonish present management on the company for allegedly placing a better concentrate on DEI practices than “combating criminals and terrorists.”
New Orleans police and federal brokers examine a suspected terrorist assault on Bourbon Road in New Orleans on New 12 months’s Day on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (Chris Granger/The New Orleans Advocate by way of AP)
In her letter to Wray on Friday, Blackburn cited a current report from a bunch of retired FBI brokers who discovered “legislation enforcement and intelligence capabilities of the FBI are degrading as a result of the FBI is now not hiring ‘the very best and the brightest’ candidates,” in addition to the hiring of a Chief Variety Officer on the FBI in 2021, in addition to the New Orleans subject workplace internet hosting a “Variety Agent Recruiting Occasion” in July as proof of the company’s heightened concentrate on DEI.
“Most lately, in a putting instance of tone deafness, the New Orleans FBI Area workplace thought it essential to brag on X about what number of bracelets its brokers had collected. Your resolution to prioritize politics, popular culture, or nearly anything over your mission to guard the general public has put Individuals in hurt’s means, and the January 1 terror assault was the inevitable consequence,” Blackburn wrote in her letter.
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“Put merely, your concentrate on woke DEI initiatives on the FBI has endangered our nationwide safety and the lives of all Individuals. Individuals now really feel more and more unsafe due to incidents just like the January 1 terror assault, and the FBI’s prioritization of range over competence reveals that their issues are properly based. Thankfully, the American folks have spoken, and President Trump will quickly deliver legislation and order again to our nation,” Blackburn continued.
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The FBI took the lead on the case Wednesday, first touchdown in scorching water with Trump allies and voters, together with for initially reporting to the general public that the assault was not an occasion of terrorism.
Christopher Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), speaks throughout a Home Judiciary Committee listening to in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, July 12, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures)
“We’ll be taking up the investigative lead for this occasion. This isn’t a terrorist occasion,” mentioned New Orleans subject workplace FBI Assistant Particular Agent in Cost Alethea Duncan throughout a Wednesday morning press convention.
Throughout that very same press convention, nonetheless, the Democratic mayor of New Orleans contradicted Duncan’s remark and minced no phrases in detailing that town confronted an act of terror.
When requested about Duncan’s remark, the FBI directed Fox Information Digital on Thursday to 3 press releases printed the day earlier than, detailing that the assault was being investigated as a terror incident. The press releases additionally detailed that an ISIS flag was discovered within the suspect’s truck.
“This morning, a person drove a automobile right into a crowd of individuals on Bourbon Road in New Orleans, killing numerous folks and injuring dozens of others. The topic then engaged with native legislation enforcement and is now deceased. The FBI is the lead investigative company, and we’re working with our companions to research this as an act of terrorism,” the FBI mentioned in certainly one of its three statements supplied to Fox Digital.
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Blackburn continued in her letter to Wray with 5 questions surrounding the FBI’s DEI hiring practices, together with: What number of FBI workers have been employed primarily based on the Bureau’s DEI initiatives; how the DEI initiatives are funded and if any of the FBI’s funds had been reallocated to such initiatives; in addition to what number of people had been employed through the New Orleans subject workplace’s Variety Agent Recruiting Occasion in July.
Navy personnel stroll down Bourbon Road, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025 in New Orleans. (AP Picture/George Walker IV)
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“Has the Bureau lately terminated the employment of any FBI brokers who help the FBI’s Nationwide Safety Department counterterrorism and intelligence parts?” Blackburn requested in her last questions. “Within the on-line posting concerning the July 17 occasion, FBI New Orleans Particular Agent in Cost Lyonel Myrthil is quoted as stating that “the variety of our employees is essentially the most worthwhile useful resource we have now in . . . maintaining Individuals secure.” Do you agree with that assertion?”
Legislation enforcement officers from a number of businesses work the scene on Bourbon Road after at the least ten folks had been killed when an individual allegedly drove into the group within the early morning hours of New 12 months’s Day on January 1, 2025, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dozens extra had been injured after a suspect in a rented pickup truck allegedly drove round barricades and thru a crowd of New 12 months’s revelers on Bourbon Road. The suspect then acquired out of the automobile, opened fireplace on cops, and was subsequently killed by legislation enforcement. (Michael DeMocker/Getty Pictures)
Wray introduced that he would step down from the FBI on the finish of President Biden’s time period this month, after Trump nominated Kash Patel to the position. Wray was first nominated below the primary Trump administration and was within the midst of a 10-year time period that might not have ended till 2027.
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“Till the President-Elect’s nominee to steer the FBI is confirmed, the American folks need to know the total extent to which your radical DEI agenda has compromised our nationwide safety,” Blackburn wrote to Wray, calling on him to reply her questions by Jan. 10.
