Trump Goes After FBI Director for Backing IG Report’s Findings

The extraordinary attack came on the same day articles of impeachment are expected to be unveiled.

Stefani Reynolds/ZUMA

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

President Donald Trump lashed out at Christopher Wray on Tuesday after the FBI director backed key findings in the Justice Department’s inspector general report into the origins of the bureau’s Russia investigation. The much-anticipated report, which was released Monday, effectively dismantled Trump’s longstanding conspiracy theories that the probe had been improperly opened and that it was politically motivated against him.

In an interview with ABC News on Monday, Wray described it as “important” that the inspector general concluded that “the investigation was opened with appropriate predication and authorization” while pledging to correct the “serious performance failures” by the FBI that had been listed in the watchdog report. Wray also shot down Trump’s accusation that the FBI was being controlled by the “Deep State” conspirators.

“I think that’s the kind of label that’s a disservice to the men and women who work at the FBI who I think tackle their jobs with professionalism, with rigor, with objectivity, with courage,” Wray told ABC News. “So that’s not a term I would ever use to describe our workforce and I think it’s an affront to them.”

In a furious tweet Tuesday morning, Trump went after Wray over his response to the report and appeared to question Wray’s ability to lead the bureau. Many interpreted the attack as a signal that the president wanted to fire his second FBI director in just three years. His decision to dismiss James Comey in 2017 after the former FBI director refused to pledge his loyalty to the president was widely condemned as an abuse of power and potentially a move that constituted obstruction of justice. 

Trump’s attack against Wray came shortly before House Democrats are scheduled to announce articles of impeachment against the president. One of the articles is expected to accuse Trump of abuse of power for attempting to pressure Ukraine to launch self-serving investigations.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate