Posted on 02/01/2018 11:07:18 AM PST by Red Badger
As Trump prepares to release a GOP document accusing the FBI of abuses, bureau alums hope Director Chris Wray holds the line—but has to be ready to walk.
Former FBI agents are warning that FBI Director Christopher Wray has to be prepared to quit, should President Donald Trump assent over bureau objections to the release of a memo calling the FBI’s integrity into question.
The release of the memo, considered imminent, shows no signs of stopping, even as the leader of Democrats in the House called on its Republican author, Devin Nunes, to be removed from his chairmanship of the House intelligence committee. It was the latest move in an extraordinary episode that appears set to spark a crisis over the criminal investigation into Trump’s potential ties to Russia.
At the center of the storm is Wray, Trump’s hand-picked FBI director. Wray got his job after Trump fired James Comey last year for what Comey described as insufficient personal “loyalty” over the Russia investigation.
On Wednesday, Wray’s FBI publicly attacked Nunes’ memo for “material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.” Trump overriding Wray will immediately call Wray’s future in the Trump administration into question six month into his tenure.
Former FBI agents say that they hope Wray can remain in office, and pull Trump and House Republicans back from the precipice of what may be a pivotal moment in the bureau’s history. But they also say Wray needs to show his willingness to walk.
“Given the climate and the recent activities, going as far back as Director Comey’s departure, Wray definitely must be prepared to resign,” said Erroll Southers, a retired FBI special agent now at the University of Southern California.
“I don’t think the director has to resign. He should be prepared to publicly discredit this cherry-picked, fake memo and expose Nunes,” added former FBI counterterrorism special agent Ali Soufan. Soufan cited the bad blood between Director Louis Freeh and President Bill Clinton in the 1990s as a sign that the FBI can continue investigating a president despite their relationship collapsing.
Former FBI agents are warning that FBI Director Christopher Wray has to be prepared to quit, should President Donald Trump assent over bureau objections to the release of a memo calling the FBI’s integrity into question.
The release of the memo, considered imminent, shows no signs of stopping, even as the leader of Democrats in the House called on its Republican author, Devin Nunes, to be removed from his chairmanship of the House intelligence committee. It was the latest move in an extraordinary episode that appears set to spark a crisis over the criminal investigation into Trump’s potential ties to Russia.
At the center of the storm is Wray, Trump’s hand-picked FBI director. Wray got his job after Trump fired James Comey last year for what Comey described as insufficient personal “loyalty” over the Russia investigation.
On Wednesday, Wray’s FBI publicly attacked Nunes’ memo for “material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo’s accuracy.” Trump overriding Wray will immediately call Wray’s future in the Trump administration into question six month into his tenure.
Former FBI agents say that they hope Wray can remain in office, and pull Trump and House Republicans back from the precipice of what may be a pivotal moment in the bureau’s history. But they also say Wray needs to show his willingness to walk.
“Given the climate and the recent activities, going as far back as Director Comey’s departure, Wray definitely must be prepared to resign,” said Erroll Southers, a retired FBI special agent now at the University of Southern California.
“I don’t think the director has to resign. He should be prepared to publicly discredit this cherry-picked, fake memo and expose Nunes,” added former FBI counterterrorism special agent Ali Soufan. Soufan cited the bad blood between Director Louis Freeh and President Bill Clinton in the 1990s as a sign that the FBI can continue investigating a president despite their relationship collapsing.
But Nunes has the support of Trump, on whose transition team he served. Trump is widely expected to assent to the memo’s release as soon as Thursday, though Fox News is reporting it will come Friday. That is the day when the House of Representatives’ parliamentary rules compel Trump to register any objections to declassification of the memo the FBI considers fundamentally misleading.
Southers expects Wray’s tenure after the memo’s release to be “very tense. The pressure is going to continue mounting. I never thought I’d see the FBI deemed the enemy of the state by anyone, let alone people in this country,” he said.
Should Wray remain in office, Southers continued, “he’s going to have to be a rock going forward, making clear to people that his only objective [will be] to stay focused on the mission. Certain things will be out of his control, and that includes his future, as it relates to the president.”
Move the FBI out of DC. They live together, eat together, employ each other, play golf together, send their kids to the same schools. Our founders would be rolling over in their graves. Drain the swamp!
https://twitter.com/LarrySchweikart/status/959065438750560256
good LS twitter thread about the ‘storied’ FBI...
Screw him. Appoint Rudy to clean out the swamp.
There had better be no redactions. I don’t think there will be. Trump is pissed and he won’t accommodate the bastards.
HANGED! He must be prepared to be hanged!
Daily Beast
Made up claptrap
Fake news at it’s worst
Asking to have names redacted, should right there be the end of him.
Resign or be fired Wray.
If the report of that is true, what an ass!
Wray resigning saves Trump from firing him.
It’s a win/win.
Quit and bring in Rudy Giuliani.
Okay, along with the firing of the entire FBI Agency. Agency must be disbanded and ALL employees let go.
Uh huh. So Soufan has seen the memo? No? Then how does he know all this?
More DB BS. Nothing more than that.
Good.
AMF!
The honorable thing for Wray and the rest of the criminals at the FBI to do, is go full Japanese - Seppuku.
Problem is there is not a single honorable person at the FBI or DOJ.
How about we cut to the chase and shut down the entire FBI? They are the enemies of privacy and freedom. Really, no loss if they all go.
Meadow muffins.
Not one FBI person resigned when Comey “exonerated “ Cankles in July 2016.
5.56mm
Having so publicly opposed the President’s decision to release the memo I don’t see how Wray stays.
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