If reelected, President Donald Trump plans to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray, with whom he and his backers have publicly clashed numerous times.
The Daily Beast reports that people familiar with Trump’s private remarks said the president views Wray as a tool of the "deep state" and wants to fire him "next year." The source understood this to mean after the 2020 election.
Over the summer, Trump asked advisers for recommendations on who he should pick to succeed Wray, the sources told the outlet.
Since being appointed to lead the FBI after James Comey was ousted in 2017, Wray has come under fire from Trump and his allies, who have accused the FBI of misconduct relating to the investigation of the Trump campaign’s connections to Russian operatives during the 2016 election.
The push to fire Wray has grown stronger in 2020, according to Axios, as revelations came out about the FBI’s investigation of Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The FBI was also absent when it came to the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security’s crackdowns on protests over George Floyd's death in Portland, Oregon, and Washington, D.C.
Breaking with Trump again, Wray told a Senate panel last month that there has been no evidence presented to the FBI of "coordinated national voter fraud" in a major election. The FBI chief has also highlighted the threat Russia and right-wing groups pose to the election without bringing up China or left-wing groups.
Newsmax TV's Emerald Robinson reported that Flynn's lawyer, Sidney Powell, is on the shortlist of candidates to replace Wray. Trump's advisers are urging him to keep Wray in his position until after the election to avoid similar fallout to that which occurred after he fired Comey.
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.