WASHINGTON — Leaders in Virginia aren't happy about the decision to put the new FBI Headquarters in Maryland, and on Tuesday, they were able to question the woman in charge of the whole process.
Probably the biggest takeaway was that as much as Maryland leaders want to say "It's over, we won," politicians on the other side of the Potomac say not so fast.
In a very bizarre move, Virginia Democrats could end up siding with far-right Republican members attempting to yank money away from the FBI HQ project.
Northern Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly is pledging that this isn't over.
"We have many steps to go," Connolly said. "This will be investigated. This will be examined."
The Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee agreed.
"We have a lot of concerns in addition to the site selection as to whether the FBI is deserving of a building with that price tag," said Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky).
The decision last Wednesday night to award the new FBI Headquarters to Greenbelt in Prince George’s County was mired in controversy by Thursday morning.
FBI Director Christopher Wray sent a letter to FBI employees alleging that Nina Albert, the woman in charge of selecting Greenbelt, was biased toward Prince George’s County and had a conflict of interest since she previously worked for WMATA, and WMATA owns the land in Greenbelt where the new FBI headquarters is going to be built.
"I understand Virginia being a little concerned they didn’t win this," Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Maryland) said. "This has been a very clear process. She was vetted properly. She passed every review."
Albert has not responded to WUSA9's multiple requests for comment. She now works for Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration.
"I asked my general counsel to look into all the concerns that were raised in Director Wray’s letter and they found those to be without merit," said GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan. "I agreed with our general counsel -- we followed all of the rules."
Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Maryland) said, "Everybody knows that we need a new FBI Headquarters."
Not everyone agrees that the crumbling J. Edgar Hoover Building in D.C. needs to be replaced. Last week, 145 Republicans voted to prohibit Congress from buying the Greenbelt site. The move failed, but it is likely to be raised again.
"Do you believe that the FBI needs a new headquarters?" this reporter asked.
"Absolutely not," Rep Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida) said. "If that facility is indeed terrible, why are they trying to locate it in Washington, D.C.? You can get way better cheaper land in other parts of the country. So why do they want to consolidate it?"
Connolly is not ruling out voting with Republicans to keep the government from buying the Greenbelt site.
"We have a common interest in looking at this particular issue," Connolly said. "We do not have the same motivation for why."
That’s one of the next steps in this process.
Connolly is teaming up with Comer in asking for an inspector general investigation of the process that led up to the Greenbelt decision. And he says he would support this issue Comer alluded to as possibly having a stand-alone hearing on the FBI and site selection process at a later date in front of this committee.