President Trump declined to say whether he would oust FBI Director Christopher Wray after the election but did criticize the top law enforcement official for comments on election security.
Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo asked Trump on Thursday morning to address reports that he wanted to get rid of Wray over a series of disagreements, including a recent spat between the two over the legitimacy of the threat of voter fraud in which Wray dismissed Trump’s concerns.
“I don’t want to say [whether Wray will be removed] yet,” Trump said. “He has been disappointing. He talks about, you know, even the voting thing, that he doesn’t see the voting ballots as a problem. There are thousands of ballots right there. You pick up any paper in the country, practically, and they’re cheating all over the place on the ballots. How is that not a problem?”
“That’s a much bigger problem than China or Russia, if you look at it. It’s a much bigger problem. So, you know, when you say that oh, I don’t see that as a problem, pick up the newspaper and read,” he added.
Trump noted that thousands of ballots are in limbo in North Carolina because of missing information on absentee forms. He also pointed to issues with mail-in ballots in Virginia and New York where ballots were sent to the wrong absentee voters. In addition, Trump highlighted possibly malicious behavior, including the recent arrest of a postal carrier who was caught tossing election mail.
Wray has denied that there is a significant threat to election security from potential voter fraud during recent testimony before Congress. He acknowledged that there was fraud “at the local level from time to time” but maintained that the issue was not a wide-scale threat.
The Trump administration expressed frustration with that testimony, including White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who questioned Wray’s leadership of the FBI.
