President Trump acknowledged that he disagrees with FBI Director Christopher Wray on some important issues but wouldn’t go so far as to reveal his level of confidence in him.
The president was asked Monday about his faith in the FBI chief who has taken an opposing stand on whether the president’s campaign was spied on in the 2016 election race.
“Well, we’ll see how it turns out,” Trump told The Hill in an interview Monday.
“I mean, I disagree with him on that and I think a lot of people are disagreeing. You may even disagree with him on that,” the president said, referring to Wray’s remarks last month.
Wray was asked about Attorney General William Barr’s description of the agency’s surveillance of the Trump campaign in 2016 as “spying.”
“That’s not the term I would use,” he said in a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing. “Lots of people have different colloquial phrases. I believe that the FBI is engaged in investigative activity, and part of investigative activity includes surveillance activity of different shapes and sizes, and to me, the key question is making sure that it’s done by the book, consistent with our lawful authorities.”
Trump found Wray’s response to the question in his congressional testimony “ridiculous,” adding that he thought Barr had “answered it perfectly.”
“I didn’t understand his answer because I thought the attorney general answered it perfectly,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House last month.
“So I certainly didn’t understand that answer,” he added. “I thought it was a ridiculous answer.”
The president addressed the FBI spying issue in a recent tweet, again calling out Wray.
“Even Director James Clapper admits that the FBI actions against the Trump Presidential Campaign do in fact meet the definition of spying, perhaps FBI Director Christopher Wray will be the next to do so.”
— t_tweets (@fake_pres_trum) June 21, 2019
Trump told The Hill Monday that he “respectfully” disagreed with the bureau leader he appointed in 2017 after he fired then-FBI Director James Comey.
The president openly disagreed with Wray earlier this month as well when he was asked about taking dirt on political opponents.
“The FBI director is wrong,” he said in an interview with ABC earlier this month.
Q: FBI says you can’t conspire with enemy against election
Trump: “The FBI director is wrong” pic.twitter.com/8srRIlJmHr
— Manish Vij (@manish_vij) June 16, 2019
In another shot at the FBI director, the president quoted Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton last month in a tweet criticizing Wray for protecting a “gang” that attempted “an illegal coup.”
“Just another abuse of power in a long series of abuses of power by the Democrats that began during the Obama Administration, continued through the Mueller FBI operation, & now the baton has been passed to Jerry Nadler to continue to abuse power to harass President Trump..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019
….and the Democrat National Committee-The Democrat Party apparatus-has been caught using donor Dollars to Collude with Russian Intelligence to attack a domestic political opponent (me). The FBI has no leadership. The Director is protecting the same gang…..that tried to….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019
….overthrow the President through an illegal coup.” (Recommended by previous DOJ) @TomFitton @JudicialWatch
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 13, 2019
“The FBI has no leadership. The Director is protecting the same gang…..that tried to……..overthrow the President through an illegal coup.” (Recommended by previous DOJ),” Trump tweeted.
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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