The Republican chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security cut off his GOP colleague during a Wednesday hearing as Representative Clay Higgins hammered FBI Director Christopher Wray with questions about a Capitol Riot conspiracy theory.
Higgins, a former law enforcement officer, has appeared and spoken at events organized by anti-government militia groups and been a vocal proponent of the theory that federal agencies have attempted to arrest conservatives by provoking events like the Capitol Riot.
Representative Mark Green, who heads the committee, reminded Higgins to wrap up his line of questioning after Representative Glenn Ivey, a Democrat on the panel, pointed out the Louisiana Republican had gone over his allotted time. Green told Ivey he had allowed even some of the Democrats on the committee to go slightly over their time, and would allow Higgins to do the same. However, he still nudged his colleague to finish his remarks.
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“I’ve been very fair in letting people finish their questioning, throughout my tenure as chairman, and I’ll continue to be fair on that regard, but I will make a note to the members if you could stay as close within your time as possible, we have a lot of people that want to ask these gentlemen questions,” Green told the committee.
When Higgins asked to make a closing statement about his allegations that the FBI orchestrated the January 6, 2021, Capitol Riot, Green said to him, “No, I think your time is expired,” before allowing Higgins to make a final comment.
Green’s office told Newsweek that the chairman has been consistent in applying this approach to all members of the committee and offered a breakdown of how much time he has allowed each member to conclude their remarks. Representative Dan Bishop, a Republican, went over the most, at 1 minute and 15 seconds over the allotted 5 minutes, while Representative Lou Correa, a Democrat, came second at 54 seconds over the allotted time.
Newsweek reached out to Higgins via email for comment.
Before Higgins was interrupted, the Republican was asking Wray about the FBI’s involvement in the riot, accusing the bureau of sending “ghost buses” to the Capitol on January 6 that were filled with informants pretending to be supporters of former President Donald Trump.
“These buses are nefarious in nature and were filled with FBI informants dressed as Trump supporters and deployed onto our capitol on January 6th,” Higgins told Wray in his final comments. “Your day is coming.”
When asked about whether the FBI planted people in the crowd that day, Wray vehemently denied the accusations, saying, “If you are asking whether the violence at the Capitol on January 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources and/or agents, the answer is emphatically no!”
Higgins asked Wray if he knew what “ghost buses” were, describing them to be “common in law enforcement” and explaining them as “vehicles used for secret purposes.”
Wray appeared before the House committee as part of the Wednesday hearing titled, “Worldwide Threats to the Homeland.” Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and National Counterterrorism Center Director Christine Abizaid also appeared before the panel.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.