Today, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, attended the nomination hearing for Christopher Wray to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. During the hearing, Senator Tillis stated his intention to support Wray’s confirmation.

Senator Tillis questions Wray on the FBI’s role in countering Russian meddling:
“I don't think there's anyone in Congress who would doubt that Russia meddles in elections, they have been meddling in elections for a long time. The emergence of the cyber domain has amplified their ability to do it more quickly and on a broader basis. Beyond what is already under investigation, do you have any sense of what more the FBI would do beyond the investigation that Director Mueller is tasked with that you could conceive that you all may proceed with?” [Download the video HERE.]
 
Senator Tillis on the importance of the FBI working with state and local law enforcement:
“One of the things I wanted to emphasize is the importance of working with state and local law enforcement agencies to get the best leverage and resources to support these sorts of investigations. I think what is important to working with state and local law enforcement are the equitable sharing programs that provide these local agencies with resources like seizures in some cases. I think there are misconceptions about how the program was run, whether there were any abuses of it and if there was, we need to work on that, but sending uncertainty out there could have a chilling effect on the investments local law enforcement will make in anticipation of some those resources that enable them to work better with the FBI.” [Download the video HERE.]
 
Senator Tillis on providing intelligence agencies with the tools they need:
“I think it's important and you probably want to spend a little bit of time with Director of National Intelligence Coats who before the Senate Armed Service said people will die if we go end the FISA 702 program. That's a pretty profound statement from a high ranking official and I think we just have to look ahead and preserve those kind of tools for the FBI and other intelligence agencies.” [Download the video HERE.]