FBI director James Comey doesn’t know what legislation would have helped authorities prevent a terrorist attack such as the Orlando shooting, he told senators during a classified briefing Wednesday.
“He’s not even sure it could have been prevented,” one Republican senator who attended the briefing told the Washington Examiner. “He did not concede it could have been prevented, beyond something which is extraordinary, but that’s what he told us he’d be transparent about after they go through this process.”
That acknowledgement took place while Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., filibustered consideration of an appropriations bill in an attempt to force a vote on legislation to ban people suspected of being potential terrorists from purchasing weapons.
Comey avoided talking about that proposal specifically, according to multiple senators, citing his role as a law enforcement official and his uncertainty about what legislative change would be useful.
“I think the director was very straightforward when he said, ‘Look, we’re still doing the autopsy, we’re still doing the review, let us finish our analysis,'” a second senator said.
Republicans have circulated testimony that Comey provided the Senate last year that suggests he worries such a ban could undermine investigations by letting individuals know they are suspected of terrorist activities. But Comey avoided answering questions that would give an edge to one side or another in the ongoing debate on the Senate floor, and most Republicans let him do so.
“Everybody was kind of finicky about asking him directly,” a third senator told the Examiner after the meeting. “They didn’t want to put him in that spot.”
