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Give the FBI this much: It shows no favoritism in its contempt for those seeking information on the investigation into the unwarranted shooting of an unarmed young accountant by U.S. Park Police officers in November 2017. The bureau shows contempt for the young man’s family, contempt for the public and contempt for members of Congress.

In December, more than a year after Park Police officers fired nine times into the vehicle of Bijan Ghaisar, killing him after he was involved in a fender bender in Northern Virginia, Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote the FBI, asking for a report and an update on the investigation. He requested it be produced in 11 days; the FBI replied after three months — and the answer was that the bureau would release no information about an active investigation.

Mr. Grassley tried again, asking FBI Director Christopher A. Wray to explain the slow response, to calculate how many man hours had been devoted to the Ghaisar investigation from its outset, and how many in the previous 30 days. The bureau’s response to that was silence.
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Mr. Grassley and Mr. Warner wrote to the FBI again Tuesday, asking for an update and for replies to previously unanswered questions. Give them credit for persistence. Bear in mind that it was only on account of a civil suit brought by Ghaisar’s parents that the names of the Park Police officers, Lucas Vinyard and Alejandro Amaya, were finally released in March. They remain on administrative duty with pay. Meanwhile, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) are pressing legislation that would require Park Police officers to wear body cameras.

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