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Video shows Wisconsin senator questioning FBI director, but no mention of jail | Fact check

Chris Mueller, USA TODAY
·2 min read
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats, in Washington, DC, on March 8, 2023.

The claim: FBI Director Christopher Wray 'faces jail time' after being questioned by Sen. Ron Johnson

A May 25 Facebook video (direct link, archive link) shows Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson questioning FBI Director Christopher Wray during a Senate committee hearing.

"Watch Wray SMACKED DOWN After Ron Johnson EXPERTLY Trap (sic) Him With 'Hunter Set-up'… Faces JAIL Time," reads the video's caption.

The video was shared more than 400 times in five days.

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Our rating: False

The video is miscaptioned. It shows Johnson, a Republican, questioning Wray during a Senate committee hearing. There is no mention of "jail time" for Wray or anyone else.

Johnson questions Wray, but no mention of 'jail time'

The exchange shown in the nearly eight-minute video took place Nov. 17, 2022, during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing.

In the video, Johnson asks Wray several questions about an FBI briefing he was given in August 2020, during which he was warned he could be a target for Russian disinformation. Johnson dismissed that warning as a political ploy.

While the post claims Wray "faces jail time," there is no mention of that possibility in the video, and there is no evidence Wray could be jailed for anything discussed in the video.

Fact check: Video of Jim Jordan congressional hearing shows questioning, not fight

More recently, Rep. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky and chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said he would take steps to hold Wray in contempt of Congress because the FBI hasn't turned over a document that purportedly describes “an alleged criminal scheme” involving President Joe Biden and a foreign national, the Associated Press reported.

USA TODAY has debunked numerous posts that pair false captions with videos of politicians or cable news programming, a type of misinformation known as "false framing." Experts say it is effective since many users watch videos with the sound off and don’t realize the caption doesn’t match the audio track.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No threats of jail mentioned in video of FBI director | Fact check