Attorney General William Barr on Friday went off script to offer praise of FBI Director Christopher Wray, who has been subject to criticism by Republicans concerned he is obstructing efforts to examine the origins of the Russia investigation.
Both men have become key players in GOP-backed “investigation of the investigators,” and while Republicans are pleased with Barr’s efforts so far, they have been less kind to Wray.
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Barr and Wray spoke at an FBI Academy graduation ceremony Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia on Friday. Wray introduced Barr as a “friend” and the two shared a handshake.
Acknowledging this week’s 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, Barr strayed from his prepared remarks and compared his second stint as attorney general to a dangerous paratrooper landing in France behind enemy lines.
“My arrival this time was a little more eventful than I recall it being the last time,” Barr said. “As we have been watching the coverage of June 6, 1944, D-Day, I had the thought that my arrival this time felt a little bit I think like jumping into Sainte-Mère-Église on the morning of June 5, trying to figure out where you could land without getting shot.”
Barr stayed off course from his prepared speech by explaining how happy he was to have Wray around.
“It was a delight after I arrived to find the FBI in such good hands and to find such a great partner — partners in Chris and his leadership team at the bureau,” Barr said. “The last time I was in the Department of Justice, I’d have to say that … the greatest pleasure and pride for me was in fact the association with the FBI and the great men and women in our law enforcement community.”
Barr said people ask him if he regrets working for the government, to which he stressed “the answer is a resounding no. And it’s a no because once again i have the opportunity to work with the outstanding men and women of the bureau and our nation’s law enforcement leaders.”
Barr is looking into the early days of the counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign and the Justice Department’s and FBI’s conduct during the 2016 campaign. Not only has he tasked U.S. Attorney John Durham with reviewing the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, but he has also enlisted the help of intelligence leaders in the endeavor, including Wray.
But the ceremony comes after a wave of Trump-sphere criticism against Wray, who has shielded the bureau from chatter about “dirty cops” who tried to undermine Trump.
Trump was set off by the FBI director disputing Barr’s use of the word “spying” to describe the government surveillance of his 2016 campaign. Trump said Wray gave a “ridiculous answer” after the FBI director testified that “spying” is “not the term I would use.”
Fox News host Sean Hannity, who has the ear of the president, said on his evening program last month that Trump was “accusing [Wray] of protecting the same gang who tried to overthrow the duly elected president of the United States” and “so far, I don’t see Director Christopher Wray frankly doing a darn thing to clean up the upper echelon of this FBI.”
Among the Republican lawmakers who have expressed dismay with Wray are Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, who accused him of perpetuating a Hillary Clinton emails cover-up, and House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes of California, who assailed the FBI for “stonewalling and get access to crucial documents” related to the origins of the Russia investigation.
