Donald Trump is far from satisfied with only attacking the attorney general who he selected and who has pushed through his most aggressively awful policies. Or the one who was also his first and biggest supporter in the Republican Party. Having already driven out his secretary of state, and a couple of press secretaries, and a few dozen others Trump needs more targets. Lately he’s been aiming his ire at Bruce Ohr, but a mid-level official at the DOJ can’t possibly be enough. As NBC reports, Trump has a new target: his FBI director.
In recent conversations with confidants, President Donald Trump has added FBI Director Christopher Wray to his list of key members of his administration whom he complains about, three people familiar with the discussions tell NBC News.
Trump apparently spent the long Labor Day weekend complaining about both Wray and Attorney General Jefferson Sessions. Having run through FBI director James Comey, and acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, Trump is now ready to go through Sessions and Wray. And the reason for all of the hate directed at the FBI and DOJ is the same: Trump wants someone to step in and end the Russia investigation.
Until recently, Trump has made few complaints about Wray. Just as up until a few months ago, Trump never mentioned Special Counsel Robert Mueller by name and kept his attacks aimed at Comey. But having fired Comey, Trump could focus on McCabe. And having forced out McCabe, he could center on the DOJ. And now that Trump has secured an agreement from Republican senators that they’ll support him in firing Sessions, Wray is back in the crosshairs.
Wray has been far from apolitical. He was initially said to be protective of McCabe, but appeared to back away when McCabe’s position was terminated just hours shy of retirement. Then Wray was front and center when agent Peter Strzok was punished above and beyond the recommendations of the officials responsible for reviewing his actions. But Wray has also hesitated at giving Trump the lapdog FBI he so frequently demands. In particular, Wray left Trump steaming over the fact that he would not immediately produce secret documents and burn FBI assets in response to Republican requests.
It’s clear that in the second phase of Trump’s White House occupation such half-measures won’t be tolerated. If Wray won’t play ball, Trump will simply keep replacing him until he finds someone who will.
And that was before the first leaks of Bob Woodward’s new book came out, which apparently has touched off a White House round-robin of finger-pointing and blame-casting. Within the White House, the response hasn’t been for staffers to be more vocal about their disagreements, but to duck and cover with the hope that Trump moves onto someone else.
A particular sign of concern for Wray is that Trump has recently begun using conspiracy theory generators Judicial Watch as a primary source, quoting them extensively in tweets, and using their statements to support his actions. Judicial Watch has long lumped Wray in with the “deep state” agents who are secretly ganging up on Trump.