Trump criticizes "disappointing" FBI director Christopher Wray
Washington — President Trump called FBI director Christopher Wray "disappointing" on Thursday, criticizing him for not doing more to investigate voter fraud, after Wray said there is no evidence of any coordinated fraud ahead of the election.
"He's been disappointing," Mr. Trump said about Wray in an interview with Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo. "He doesn't see the voting ballots as a problem."
Wray testified before Congress two weeks ago that the bureau has "not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise."
Mr. Trump declined to say whether he would replace Wray, whom he nominated in 2017, if elected to a second term.
The Justice Department, which oversees the FBI, announced charges on Wednesday against a Postal Service worker in New Jersey who is accused of dumping thousands of pieces of mail, including 99 mail-in ballots addressed to residents in West Orange, a heavily Democratic municipality. The investigation was led by agents from the Postal Service's inspector general's office, not the FBI, according to a Justice Department release.
Wray was one of several administration officials that Mr. Trump criticized in the interview. He also expressed frustration with Attorney General William Barr, arguing that he had not done enough to prosecute the president's political enemies.
Mr. Trump said Barr would either go down in history as "the greatest" attorney general or as a "sad situation," depending on whether he prosecuted members of the previous administration for launching an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
"I'll be honest with you. He's got all the information he needs. They want to get more, more, more. They keep getting more. I said, 'You don't need any more,'" Mr. Trump said, arguing that former President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden should be indicted. Barr tapped U.S. Attorney John Durham last year to investigate the origins of the FBI investigation into potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials in 2016.
The Justice Department declined to comment on the president's remarks Thursday morning.
Mr. Trump also slammed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for not recovering emails deleted by Hillary Clinton.
"I'm not happy about him, for that," Mr. Trump. "He's running the State Department, you get them out. They're in the State Department."
Both Barr and Pompeo were also nominated by the president, and are staunch defenders of Mr. Trump.
Clare Hymes contributed reporting.
