FBI director confesses he left August Senate hearing early to go on vacation

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray on Thursday admitted that earlier this year he left a Senate hearing early to go on vacation.

Appearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Thursday, Wray responded to an inquiry from Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, who asked him to confirm the accuracy of an earlier New York Post report asserting that he "cut short his testimony to go on vacation" during a congressional appearance over the summer.

Wray asserted that he had not left the hearing early, but at the pre-agreed-upon time. He further claimed that he was required to use the FBI plane for travel.

"So you were going on vacation?" Hawley demanded, to which Wray responded: "I was, yes."

"[I] am required, not only permitted but required, to fly on an FBI plane wherever I go," he noted. 

Republicans had hoped to question Wray during the August hearing on FBI whistleblower allegations of coverups related to the FBI's investigation of business activity by the Biden family.