The New York Times, in its July 13 account of FBI director Christopher A. Wray's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, July 12, briefly noted Wray's exchange with Texas Republican Congressman Chip Roy.  This observer wonders, however, whether Wray's response to Rep. Roy's question about the FBI arrest of Mark Houck, last September, should be reviewed as a perjury matter.

Responding to Rep. Roy, Director Wray told the congressional panel that FBI agents knocked on the door to the Houck home and identified themselves.  Mr. Houck has claimed, however, that the FBI agents pounded on his door and did not identify themselves.  Here is Houck's account based on his direct experience with arrest by the FBI:

'The next thing I know, I had 20-plus federal agents and state troopers banging on my door at 6:45 in the morning on Sept. 23, Friday morning,' he said.

Houck said he was awake, but his wife and kids were asleep. He said the FBI 'repeatedly' rang the doorbell and banged on the door saying 'open up.'

Houck said that the authorities did not identify themselves while banging on the door.

He described the FBI’s tactics as 'recklessness' and an 'act of terror.'

The headline for the Times story about Wray's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee stated, in the print version,

Director Defends the F.B.I.
To Combative House Panel

One can well appreciate that Wray would defend the bureau, but to the point of lying about its arrest tactics against conservatives in service to the Despotic Clique?  The Times article quoted Wray's vigorous denial that he is biased against conservatives.  This denial, however flies in the face of Judge Terry A. Doughty's opinion in Missouri v. Biden, July 4, that the FBI, along with the White House and other federal agencies, has coerced social media platforms into silencing conservative viewpoints.  This passage from page 107 of the Doughty ruling, granting preliminary injunctive relief to the plaintiffs, points out that the FBI was among government sources that covered up the Hunter Biden laptop story in the weeks before the 2020 presidential election.  Wray's protestations that he is fair and square are not supported by this finding by Judge Doughty:

The FBI’s failure to alert social-media companies that the Hunter Biden laptop story was real, and not mere Russian disinformation, is particularly troubling. The FBI had the laptop in their possession since December 2019 and had warned social-media companies to look out for a “hack and dump” operation by the Russians prior to the 2020 election. Even after Facebook specifically asked whether the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation, Dehmlow of the FBI refused to comment, resulting in the social-media companies’suppression of the story. As a result, millions of U.S. citizens did not hear the story prior to the November 3, 2020 election. Additionally, the FBI was included in Industry meetings and bilateral meetings, received and forwarded alleged misinformation to social-media companies, and actually mislead social-media companies in regard to the Hunter Biden laptop story. The Court finds this evidence demonstrative of significant encouragement by the FBI Defendants.

In the Houck matter, this anti-abortion target of the government faced a prison term of eleven years and a fine of $350,000.  He was, however, acquitted, unanimously, by the jury after about an hour's deliberations.  Here is a video of the events leading to his arrest by the Despotic Clique in Washington:

The Houck arrest by the FBI occurred eleven months following an October 13, 2021 altercation between Houck and a 72-year-old volunteer, Bruce Love, at a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Philadelphia.  Love, allegedly, shouted curses and abusive language at Houck's twelve-year old son.  The Justice Department indicted Houck after local authorities did not file charges against him

The Times story noted, "Among Republicans, Mr. Houck has become a symbol of F.B.I. overreach and animus toward conservatives."  And not merely against anti-abortion activists, Republicans in Congress should be advised.  As Judge Doughty pointed out in his eye-opening opinion in Missouri v. Biden, it is the "conservative viewpoint" that the government is targeting.  This should be a time for Republicans to rally round the banner of liberty, not fall to squabbling among themselves.

Image: Tom Ahearn via Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0 (cropped).