FBI Director Christopher Wray admits he left congressional hearing for vacation on a government jet - and dodges questions on if Hunter Biden allegations are Russian disinformation under intense questioning from Republicans

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FBI Director Christopher Wray refused to say whether a GOP-led Senate report on Hunter Biden's business dealings showed signs of Russian disinformation as he admitted to cutting out on a Senate hearing to fly to the Adirondacks on a government plane. 

On August 4, Wray appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee's oversight hearing, which GOP Sen. Josh Hawley said was 'cut short' because Wray had to 'be somewhere.'  

'The press reported ... you were flying on a Gulf Stream jet for a personal vacation in the Adirondacks. Please tell me that's not accurate,' the Missouri Republican said to the FBI director at a Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing. Thursday.

'I am required not only permitted, but required, to fly on an FBI plane wherever I go,' Wray said. 

On August 4, Wray appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee's oversight hearing, which GOP Sen. Josh Hawley, above, said was 'cut short' because Wray had to 'be somewhere'

'So you were going on vacation,' asked Hawley. 'Yes.' 

Wray's rushed Aug. 4 departure cut short Republicans' questioning over whistleblower allegations of a cover-up in the agency's investigation into Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings. 

Wray said that he and the committee 'agreed beforehand' on the length of his testimony. 

'Did you enjoy the flight? Did you pay for it?' Hawley pressed. 'Yes, I paid for it,' said Wray, adding that he was visiting family. 

'I am required, even for personal travel, to use the FBI plane,' he added again. Hawley shot back: 'How convenient for you.'

'And I pay,' said Wray. 

Asked if he would hand over receipts for reimbursement of the plan, Wray implied he would. 'We will be happy to comply with oversight requests as it relates to use of the plane.' 

Even when they travel for personal reasons, the Attorney General, seventh in line to the presidency, and the FBI director are required to have special protective services and secure communications while in flight, thus the use of government jets. 

In the August hearing, 'I had had a flight that I'm supposed to be hightailing it to out of here [for].' 

When Grassley asked that the FBI head 'wait a while' and noted he had a personal plane waiting for him, Wray said: 'Sorry, to be honest, um, I've tried to make my [mid-hearing] break as fast as I could to get right back out here.' 

Christopher Wray's, above, rushed Aug. 4 departure cut short Republicans' questioning over whistleblower allegations of a cover-up in the agency's investigation into Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings

The exchange came just as House Republicans, having won a majority for next Congress, claimed to have evidence that President Biden was involved in Hunter Biden's, above, business deals

'You took more than five minutes,' Grassley reminded him, referring to the allotted break time.  Twice Wray responded 'yes' when Grassley asked him if he had 'other business.' 

Wray on Thursday also refused to comment on the legitimacy of a report put together by Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, that has recently been forwarded on to the Justice Department. 

At a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing Thursday, Johnson asked Wray if he believed anything in the report could be linked back to the Russians. 

Wray said he had examined the report. Asked specifically if he thought it the product of Russian disinformation, Wray said: 'That would be a hard question for me to answer.' 

'There is no Russian disinformation,' Johnson said. 'That report is completely clean of any interference of foreign influence, although we have been falsely accused, including by the chairman of this committee of spreading Russian disinformation.' 

In October 2020, just after bombshell reporting on the laptop began to drop, a group of ex-national security officials wrote a public letter saying they believed the laptop had the hallmark of Russian disinformation. 

Johnson pressed Wray on whether the FBI had any hand in the letter. 'I'm not aware of any involvement by the FBI in what you're describing,' Wray said.

Johnson said his whistleblowers believed the FBI 'initiated a scheme' to discredit the laptop and may have helped organize the letter. If the FBI was involved, he said, that meant they had participated in election interference. 

'This letter by 51 intelligence officials, this interfered in the 2020 election to a far greater extent than anything Russia or China ever could have hoped to accomplish,' Johnson said. 'You have to acknowledge that it has to be investigated. I have no faith that you will do so.' 

The exchange came just as House Republicans, having won a majority for next Congress, claimed to have evidence that President Biden was involved in his son's business deals. 

Rep. James Comer accused Biden of being 'chairman of the board' of his family's business dealings and even claimed the White House spent more than $250,000 to deflect negative stories about Hunter.

'This is an investigation of Joe Biden,' he said. 'I think we've laid out the evidence as to why we feel it's important, and we're going to move forward with that.'

He said later, 'We're trying to stay focused on - was Joe Biden directly involved with Hunter Biden's business deals, and is he compromised?'

Comer said he'd even like members of the Biden family to testify before the House when asked, but said the main focus of their probe right now was to access bank records.

'As part of our investigation, we have evidence that the finances, credit cards, and bank accounts of Hunter and Joe Biden were commingled, if not shared,' the Republican lawmaker said.

'One of Hunter's closest associates, Eric Schwerin, was accessing Joe Biden's money and writing checks to reimburse Hunter.' 

In the Aug. 4 hearing, Wray said that whistleblower accusations that Timothy Thibault, former FBI assistant special agent in charge at the Washington field office, told agents not to investigate Hunter's laptop 'deeply troubling.' 

Johnson and Grassley have since pleaded with the FBI and the DOJ inspector general to look into allegations the FBI deliberately dragged its feet in investigating Hunter Biden ahead of the 2020 election. 

'After the FBI obtained the Hunter Biden laptop from the Wilmington, DE computer shop, these whistleblowers stated that local FBI leadership told employees, 'you will not look at that Hunter Biden laptop' and that the FBI is 'not going to change the outcome of the election again,'' Johnson wrote to Inspector General Michael Horowitz. 

Horowitz told Johnson in February 2021 that the OIG would not investigate the FBI's handling of the laptop so as not to interfere with the Department of Justice's investigation into Hunter's tax affairs.

In October 2020, one month before the election, 'an avenue of derogatory Hunter Biden reporting was ordered closed' by Thibault, Senator Grassley claimed in a letter to Wray and AG Merrick Garland.

Thibault shut down the investigation despite evidence that some of the details were true, according to that whistleblower.

'Allegations provided to my office appear to indicate that there was a scheme in place among certain FBI officials to undermine derogatory information connected to Hunter Biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation,' Grassley wrote.