The FBI was watching and monitoring. Update to this previous story from 2015.
The FBI is under mounting pressure from the Senate to explain the circumstances behind a terrorist attack in Garland, Texas in 2015, although it’s still far from clear whether the FBI intends to explain why an FBI agent was at the scene and did nothing.
In open testimony before the committee on Wednesday, FBI Director James Comey told Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that he would be willing to explain media reports that suggest the FBI may have had advance knowledge of the attack. But he only said he would do that in a classified briefing, and no briefing has been set.
Cruz’s request was just the latest attempt to get to the bottom of the attack. Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has been trying to get information from the FBI and the Justice Department for over a year and a half, and has had little to show for his efforts.[…]
Toward the end of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this week, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, forced Comey to confirm for a second time that he would not only brief Cruz, but also committee staff.
“Assuming they have the clearances for it. I don’t think that’s a problem at all, I’ll do that,” Comey replied.
The attorney for the wounded security guard, Trenton Roberts, previously told the Washington Examiner that he was concerned the FBI may have been more invested in moving an undercover agent up the ranks in a U.S.-based cell of the Islamic State than they were interested in stopping an imminent attack.
“It seems like it had to have been one or the other,” Roberts told the Examiner. “Just a complete botched operation where they [the FBI] don’t want the attack to actually take place, or, it’s something where they need the attack to take place in order for this guy [the agent] to advance in the world of ISIS.”
Joiner and Roberts have about six months to decide if they’ll sue the FBI, which could lead to more disclosure.