FBI Director Chris Wray Refuses to Disclose Cause of Death of Officer Brian Sicknick

FBI Director Christopher Wray refused to disclose to senators the cause of the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

The New York Times first reported that Sicknick died after being struck with a fire extinguisher during the Capitol Building breach on January 6, and later retracted that after medical examiners found no signs of blunt force trauma.

Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) asked Wray whether his cause of death has been determined.

Grassley asked: “We all want to know what happened to Officer Brian Sicknick, tragic death as a result of that January 6th assault. There’s been conflict adding reports about his cause of death. Have you determined the exact cause of death and is there a homicide investigation?”

Wray responded that the investigation into his death is “ongoing,” but did not say whether the cause of his death has been determined yet:

There is an ongoing investigation into his death. I have to be careful at this stage because it’s ongoing… . I certainly understand and respect and appreciate the keen interest in what happened to him. After all he was here protecting all of you and as soon as our information that we can appropriately share we want to be able to do that, but at the moment the investigation is still ongoing.

Grassley pressed him further on whether the FBI has determined the cause of death, which Wray sidestepped again.

“We can’t yet disclose cause of death at this stage,” he said. “We are not at a point where we can disclose or confirm the cause of death.”

Cruz tried again: “You told Senator Grassley the FBI at this point is not in the position to confirm a cause of death. Is there any information that the FBI can share with the American people about what we know of the circumstances surrounding his tragic death?”

Wray only said his death could “appropriately” be categorized as a “line of duty death.”

“Although I certainly understand and appreciate the keen interest in it for all of the reasons we have discussed at the moment other than to say the Capitol Police is of course categorized it I think appropriately as a line of duty death there’s nothing really that I could share right now,” he said.

 

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