President Trump has started privately leveling attacks at FBI Director Chris Wray along with other members of his administration like Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a new report says.
Although Trump selected Wray to become FBI director after he ousted former FBI Director James Comey in 2017, Trump has directed criticism toward Wray as he condemns members of the Justice Department for not safeguarding his interests.
“[Trump is] in the worst mood of his presidency and calling friends and allies to vent about his selection of Sessions and Wray,” a source familiar with Trump’s thinking said, per NBC.
The attacks come as Trump continues to rail against Sessions, the Justice Department, the FBI, and the federal Russia investigation being conducted by special counsel Robert Mueller. The probe is examining Russian interference in the 2016 election, if the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin, and possible obstruction of justice after Trump fired Comey. Trump has also routinely slammed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the probe.
Comey was fired in May 2017 and Wray was nominated that summer. Although Trump has blamed the FBI of being biased against him, Wray has not been a target of the attacks until recently as the Justice Department has increasingly attracted the ire of Trump.
Meanwhile, Wray has suggested he has considered stepping down from his post when he failed to outright reject media reports that indicated he threatened to resign on at least one occasion. In an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt in July, Wray refrained from providing a direct answer when asked if a line had ever been crossed to prompt a resignation warning.
“I’m a low-key, understated guy, but that should not be mistaken for what my spine is made out of,” Wray said at the time. “I’ll just leave it at that.”
