Wray Hangs On With FBI Besieged by Trump and GOP’s Russia Probe
Wray Hangs On With FBI Besieged by Trump and GOP’s Russia Probe
(Bloomberg) -- While Christopher Wray’s boss, Attorney General William Barr, stood in front of the White House on live TV this month making sure federal officers followed orders to push back demonstrators, the FBI director was doing his job far from the cameras.
Working behind the scenes, Wray helped set up a command center at the FBI’s Washington field office to coordinate the federal response to protests after George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police. He communicated with command centers in the bureau’s 56 field office across the country and put the FBI’s elite tactical Hostage Rescue team on standby in Washington.
Wray’s no-nonsense approach may be the reason he’s survived this long under a president who’s effectively kept him on permanent probation. His handling of the days of unrest is emblematic of his leadership style since taking over the embattled Federal Bureau of Investigation in August 2017, according to current and former law enforcement officials.
“The director has, from the beginning, been focused on the mission that the FBI has,” said Brian O’Hare, an FBI agent and president of the FBI Agents Association. “He has reminded us on a regular basis to keep your nose to the grindstone, do your work for the American people and uphold the Constitution.”
President Donald Trump chose Wray after firing FBI Director James Comey over his investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Along with Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, who initially led the CIA, Wray is among the administration’s longest-serving senior national security officials.
‘Jury’s Still Out’
With Trump that could change at any time, as the president never seems far from shaking up any agency that draws his ire. “Let’s see what happens with him,” Trump said of Wray during a May 8 interview on “Fox & Friends.” Then he added, “Look, the jury’s still out.”
And now Wray, 53, faces a new challenge. As the next presidential election approaches, he’s confronting sprawling Republican-led inquiries into actions by FBI officials early in their investigation of whether anyone close to Trump colluded in Russia’s meddling. Barr has ordered a criminal probe into whether illegal acts were committed by the investigators.
Unlike four years ago, when the FBI played a visible and controversial role heading into the election, Wray is determined to keep the bureau from becoming a distraction and focused instead on its core responsibilities, according to a senior bureau official. That includes disrupting terrorist plots and investigating crimes, including federal civil rights violations.
Republican Critics
Wray wasn’t at the FBI when the Russia investigation began in 2016 -- the former assistant attorney general was in private practice until Trump made him FBI director. By the time he took over the bureau, the probe was in the hands of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Yet Republican critics say Wray hasn’t done enough to root out and punish wrongdoing in the FBI’s ranks.
“In fact, he’s done nothing, the current FBI director, to address the situation,” Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri said at a June 4 hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Actually, Wray ordered 40 corrective steps after the Justice Department’s inspector general found multiple significant errors when the FBI submitted applications to wiretap former Trump campaign aide Carter Page in 2016 and 2017. Last month, Wray ordered an internal review into how the FBI handled the investigation into Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn. He also brought in a new leadership team for the bureau.
Republican Probe
The Republican-controlled Judiciary panel voted Thursday to give its chairman sweeping authority to subpoena former Obama administration officials but also Barr and Wray.
“Director Wray remains firmly committed to addressing the failures under prior FBI leadership while maintaining the foundational principles of rigor, objectivity, accountability, and ownership in fulfilling the Bureau’s mission to protect the American people and defend the Constitution,” the bureau said in a May 5 statement.
The FBI also is under pressure to play a role in a national push to restrict police abuses and to deliver on the assertion -- voiced by Trump, Barr and Wray with little evidence to back it up -- that “antifa” anarchists fomented violence in protests.
The FBI and Justice Department are conducting an investigation to determine whether any federal civil rights laws were violated in connection with Floyd’s death.
‘Real Deal’
“I can’t imagine a more intense time or difficult time for the FBI,” said Nancy Savage, a former FBI official who’s now executive director of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI. She said of Wray, “Overwhelmingly he’s the real deal. He’s quiet, but he’s super-confident. He’s not one to grandstand. He just gets the job done.”
O’Hare said Wray has the full confidence and support of the FBI Agents Association, which advocates for more than 14,000 active and former special agents.
Under Wray, the rate at which special agents voluntarily leave the bureau is low while more applicants are applying for the job. In fiscal year 2019, fewer than 1% of special agents voluntarily resigned, and that’s expected to remain the case for fiscal year 2020, according to bureau statistics. Almost 37,000 applications to become special agents are expected, about 2,000 more than in 2019.
Barr’s Backing
Despite Trump’s ambivalence, Barr, a favorite of the president, has repeatedly offered public support for Wray as other conservatives clamor for his removal.
“This is the FBI that I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the last few days,” Barr said during a June 4 news conference on the federal response to the protests. “The FBI that I know and love, that have really stood up here and performed magnificently, not only here in D.C. but around the country in all their field offices.”
Wray saw the event as an opportunity to explain what the FBI does and to offer conciliatory words.
“This is about all of those over the years who have been unjustifiably killed or had their rights violated by people entrusted with their protection,” Wray said. “When we lose sight of those solemn obligations to the citizens we serve, the protectors can quickly become the oppressors, particularly for communities of color.”
Wray is now having serious discussions to define the FBI’s role in police reform efforts, according to the bureau official. The director held a call on June 5 with the Congressional Black Caucus, which said in a statement that Wray “discussed the FBI’s work to investigate cases which hold officers accountable and offer training.”
Unlike other political appointees, the director of the FBI is supposed to have a 10-year term, which is intended to help insulate the position from politics and elections. Trump fired Comey in the middle of his term, claiming he could no longer effectively lead the bureau.
“We never paid attention to elections because it’s a tenured term,” said Savage, the former FBI official. She said Wray is “just going to do the job he essentially has been appointed to do, and everything else is going to happen outside of his control.”
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