Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., was shut down Wednesday on pressing FBI Director Christopher Wray on purported evidence of "ghost buses" filled with alleged federal operatives before the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol.
"These buses are nefarious in nature and were filled with FBI informants dressed as Trump supporters and deployed onto our Capitol on Jan. 6," Higgins said in closing of his five-minute questioning. "Your day is coming, Mr. Wray."
Democrats sought to shut down Higgins' line of questioning that had turned a bit contentious as Higgins asked Wray if the FBI had operatives "embedded" in the crowd on Jan. 6.
"Can you confirm that the FBI had that sort of engagement with your own agents embedded within to the crowd on Jan. 6," Higgins asked.
Instead of a direct answer to that question, Wray deflected to suggest the Republican was asking whether the FBI was stoking violence, something Higgins did not ask, nor allude to.
"If you are asking whether the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources and or agents, the answer is emphatically not," Wray shot back.
"You're saying no?" Higgins asked again.
"No!" Wray said.
"Do you know what a ghost vehicle is, director?" Higgins continued. "You're the director of the FBI, you certainly should. Do you know what a ghost bus is?"
"A ghost bus?" Wray replied. "I'm not sure I've used that term before."
Higgins, a former Military Police Corps staff sergeant in the Louisiana National Guard said ghost buses are "common in law enforcement."
"It's a vehicle that's used for secret purposes," Higgins said. "It's painted over.
"These two buses in the middle here, they were the first to arrive at Union Station on Jan. 6," Higgins said, pointing to a photo. "I have all this evidence. I'm showing you a tip of this iceberg."
That is when a Democrat in the hearing sought to stop Higgins' questioning and the chairman forced him to yield. The chair did permit Higgins to briefly close with the "nefarious in nature" and "your day is coming, Mr. Wray" remarks.