President Donald Trump criticized FBI Director Christopher Wray’s reading of a federal watchdog’s report on the origins of a probe into foreign meddling in the 2016 election, saying “with that kind of attitude, he will never be able to fix” the agency.
“I don’t know what report current Director of the FBI Christopher Wray was reading, but it sure wasn’t the one given to me,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.
The rebuke follows an ABC News interview Monday in which Wray said he had no information indicating Ukraine had interfered with the 2016 election, despite Trump’s suggestions that the country might have.
“I think it’s important for the American people to be thoughtful consumers of information and to think about the sources of it,” Wray said.
Wray also said the Justice Department’s inspector general — in a report issued Monday — didn’t find political bias that impacted the opening of the 2016 probe or the decision to use certain investigative tools.
“The inspector general found that, in this particular instance, the investigation was opened with appropriate predication and authorization,” Wray said, adding that the report did find in “a number of instances” in which FBI employees failed either to follow bureau policies or to exercise appropriate diligence. He said he has ordered more than 40 corrective actions to address the failures.
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