During a discussion on the probe by the Justice Department into the Russia investigation, Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo asked the president whether FBI Director Christopher Wray should resign.
“We know the FBI left for the Senate in February of 2018. Christopher Wray executed the FBI. Min. President, is Christopher Wray hiding all this stuff and protecting the FBI? Should he resign?” Bartiromo asked.
“That Christopher Wray was placed there. We have an election coming up. I wish he was more forthcoming, he certainly has not been. There are documents they want to get, and we have said we “We are going to find out if he will give those documents. But surely he has been very, very protective,” the president said of Fox Business.
CNN has reached out to the FBI and the Department of Justice.
Trump told Fox Business that Wray “was placed there for a good reason. He was chosen by a certain person, and I said, go ahead, put whoever you want. I’m so honest I said you could put someone there. “Let’s you. Let’s see how Wray gets out. He’s going to turn one way or the other.”
He went on to say, “Bill Barr has a chance to be the greatest of all time. But if he wants to be politically correct, he will just be a different man.”
Barr said in an interview on Wednesday that he intends to release some conclusions from Durham’s investigation into the November election, putting a finer point on a timeline that has shifted in recent weeks and also the possibility opened that the review could extend to winter.
“We are all aware of the calendar and we will not do anything for the purposes of influencing an election, but we are trying to achieve some things before the election,” Barr conservative commentator Buck Sexton said.
Trump has not been pleased with Wray for a variety of observed errors, mostly related to conservative complaints that the FBI did not cooperate with efforts to review the 2016-2017 Russia investigation.
Fox News hosts and conservative media have attacked Wray over the issue, even though there is no evidence that the FBI and Wray have been uncooperative.
Barr has also come to Wray’s defense, saying the FBI director has collaborated with several investigations Barr has ordered into the FBI’s handling of sensitive matters.
Veronica Stracqualursi and CNN’s David Shortell contributed to this report.
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