President Donald Trump has repeatedly discussed firing FBI Director Christopher Wray after the election — and officials are concerned he may also oust Attorney General Bill Barr, according to The Washington Post.
Trump has been unhappy that Wray and Barr have not publicly announced an investigation into Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, or his associates, aides told the outlet. The president is “increasingly frustrated” that the two officials have “not delivered his campaign the kind of last-minute boost that the FBI provided in 2016,” the sources said.
“Trump wants official action similar to the announcement made 11 days before the last presidential election by then-FBI Director James B. Comey” when he informed Congress that the FBI had reopened its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, according to the report.
Polls showed that Comey’s announcement was a major factor in Clinton’s 2016 election loss.
Trump appointed Wray in 2017 after firing Comey. The administration reportedly pressured then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to write a letter citing Comey’s handling of the Clinton probe for his dismissal, though draft documents showed that Trump wanted him fired for pursuing the investigation into his campaign’s ties to Russia.
Trump called on Barr to “act fast” and “appoint somebody” to investigate the Biden’s before the election during a Tuesday interview with Fox News.
Trump’s comments came in response to a dubious New York Post story fed by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and former adviser Steve Bannon that raised questions about emails purportedly found on a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden, which he allegedly left at a Delaware repair shop. Numerous intelligence experts have alleged that the story is part of a Russian disinformation plot.
Trump’s comments came on Fox News, which itself reportedly refused to publish the story.
“There are many, many red flags in that New York Post investigation,” NPR noted this week. “Even if Russia can’t be positively connected to this information, the story of how Trump associates Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani came into a copy of this computer hard drive has not been verified and seems suspect. And if that story could be verified, the NY Post did no forensic work to convince consumers that the emails and photos that are the basis for their report have not been altered.”
The FBI has tried to distance itself from Republican outcry about the report, telling Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, that it had “nothing to add” after Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe dismissed allegations that it was part of a Russian disinformation plot.
Assistant FBI Director Jill Tyson also noted in the letter to Johnson that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz had been highly critical of Comey’s pre-election announcement.
The FBI “can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any ongoing investigation or persons or entities under investigation, including to members of Congress,” she wrote. “As the inspector general firmly reminded the Department and the FBI in recent years, this policy is designed to preserve the integrity of all Justice Department investigations and the department’s ability to effectively administer justice without political or other undue outside influences.”
The president, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and top Trump aide Dan Scavino have all repeatedly criticized Wray, whom Trump views as “one of his worst personnel picks,” according to The Washington Post.
Trump has also grown increasingly critical of Barr after he told Republican lawmakers that the much-hyped investigation by U.S. Attorney John Durham into the origins of the Russia probe would not be completed before the election.
“I’m not happy, with all of the evidence I had, I can tell you that. I am not happy,” Trump said in an interview last week when asked if he would keep Barr for a potential second term.
Trump had told allies that he believed Barr and Durham would deliver “scalps.” Now, he complains that “they aren’t doing sh*t,” according to the Post.
Some administration officials have grown concerned that Barr “could become a casualty” of Trump’s desire to fire Wray. Others suggested his decision may hinge on the result of the election and whether Republicans keep control of the Senate.
“Trump often complains about members of his Cabinet and contemplates dismissing them, without doing so,” The Post added. “And Trump’s decision to fire Comey in early 2017 only fueled further problems for the president.”
Former U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance noted that Trump’s desire for a public announcement of a Biden investigation is what got him impeached last year.
“Maybe if the Senate convicted Trump after he was impeached for withholding aid from Ukraine to get them to announce an investigation into Biden, Trump wouldn’t be around to threaten the FBI Director’s job for not announcing an investigation into Biden,” she tweeted.
“That is corrupt,” former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti added. “Period.”
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.