President Trump is apparently considering removing FBI Director Christopher Wray from his post. The obvious tell when Trump ponders relieving an appointee of their post usually arrives in some form of prevarication — “We’ll have to see.”
When pressed on FOX & Friends about the Justice Department’s stunning decision to drop criminal charges against Michael Flynn, along with reports that the Comey-era FBI railroaded Flynn because of political bias, Trump responded with: “Well, a lot of things are going to be told in the next couple of weeks, and let’s see what happens.”
Typically, when the president responds in this fashion, it spells a death knell for the administration member whom he often initially defends with the superlative that they are “doing a good job.” As new documents have been released in the Flynn case that appear to have led to the dismissal of the charges, Wray has suddenly found himself caught in the presidential crosshairs.
For the president to tease that “the jury is still out” on his pick to replace James Comey is wholly unsettling. For his part, Attorney General William Barr, in defending the decision to drop the Flynn charges, attempted to downplay the speculation, providing Wray the support he deserves. Barr told CBS News: “He’s been a great partner to me in our effort to restore the American people’s confidence in both the Department of Justice and the FBI.”
Barr is right: Wray is the right man for the job. Firing this FBI director would be a huge mistake for Trump.
I suggest this having served under four of the eight men appointed and Senate-confirmed to lead the world’s premier law enforcement agency, in its 112-year history, as FBI director. None of these men were wholly perfect in their positions. They made mistakes, miscalculations, and misjudgments. Then again, who among us has not?
J. Edgar Hoover certainly abused his power. For as many leading-edge law enforcement methodological developments he designed and implemented, his complicated legacy must reckon with COINTELPRO and his penchant for blackmail, pettiness, and the manipulation of law.
William Sessions, the agency’s fourth director, was fired by President Bill Clinton in July 1993 for violations of ethics. Comey, Wray’s predecessor, was fired by Trump on May 9, 2017. There certainly exist different and conflicting explanations for why Comey was dismissed, depending upon your view of Trump or passionate feelings about Comey’s stewardship at the FBI. No doubt that rightful criticisms exist following the disclosure of feckless leadership failures and questionable investigative decisions related to Comey’s arguably partisan team that led the investigations into Hillary Clinton’s private email server and the case focused on Russian election interference.
None of that reflects on Wray or his captaincy at the helm of the FBI ship. He was dealt an unenviable hand rife with scatological material. When he assumed the position on Aug. 2, 2017, he set about to fix an FBI that was riven by those who were acolytes of Comey and others who were disgusted by revelation after damning revelation of misconduct and chicanery by the callow, inexperienced, and advancement-focused Comey senior executive team.
When Inspector General Michael Horowitz released his comprehensive review of the Russia collusion investigation, code-named Crossfire Hurricane, it was a breathtaking assessment of malice and incompetence. Wray was saddled with the responsibility of responding to legitimate criticisms of misguided FBI protocols and the archaic methods it employed to secure FISA warrants for consensual monitoring. He also had to confront the failings at FBI headquarters related to the post-Sept. 11 leadership restructurings and centralized prosecution of case investigations brought about by the FBI’s sixth director, Robert Mueller.
Trump certainly made life more difficult by tweeting in response to Wray’s conclusions:
I don’t know what report current Director of the FBI Christopher Wray was reading, but it sure wasn’t the one given to me. With that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix the FBI, which is badly broken despite having some of the greatest men & women working there!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 10, 2019
To Wray’s credit, he is the antithesis of Comey. He does his job in the shadows, eschewing the spotlight, avoiding the microphones and photo-ops while attempting to remain even-keeled — the quintessential calm amid the chaos. This is exactly what the FBI needs right now.
For those who reflexively charge that Wray is somehow suppressing evidence of prior FBI misconduct or dragging his feet by not having cooperated fully with Horowitz, stonewalling the ongoing John Durham investigation, or not assisting Jeff Jensen, the U.S. attorney in Missouri charged with reviewing the conduct of the Flynn investigation, I say bollocks.
In response to criticism related to the investigation of the Flynn case, the FBI issued this statement:
In defense of Wray, I also feel it is supremely important to acknowledge that, after the Crossfire Hurricane revelations and in keeping with his new directive to limit the amount of investigations being worked out of headquarters, he personally directed two field agents from outside the Beltway be assigned to the Jensen probe. This was the right call.
FBI directors do not personally investigate cases. Most of them, Wray included, have never been an FBI special agent. They are political appointees well equipped for close quarters combat on Capitol Hill with the likes of oversight committees and political probes. Whatever the agents (overseen by layers of experienced field supervisors and senior executives) underneath his command advise him, he must trust their impressions and their word. It’s the third foundational word in the agency’s sacrosanct motto: Fidelity, bravery, and integrity.
The past three and a half years have been a tumultuous time for all of us. My former agency has taken the lion’s share of slings and arrows, some justified and some as a result of rank, opportunistic partisanship.
The time is nigh. Trump must not distract the FBI director with speculation and conjecture, unsure in his continued employment. It reduces Wray’s effectiveness and undercuts his position. If he’s perceived as a lame duck, he cannot lead. Now, more than ever, continuity is required in the FBI.
The moment demands more than, “We’ll have to see.”
James A. Gagliano (@JamesAGagliano) worked in the FBI for 25 years. He is a law enforcement analyst for CNN and an adjunct assistant professor in homeland security and criminal justice at St. John’s University. Gagliano is a member of the board of directors of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund.
