New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
FBI tested by attacks and investigations
WASHINGTON — Three days after federal agents searched former President Donald Trump’s Florida home for classified documents, FBI Director Christopher Wray emailed bureau workers urging them to tune out criticism from those who “don’t know what we know and don’t see what we see.”
The work was done by the book, the director wrote in his Aug. 11 email. “We don’t cut corners. We don’t play favorites.”
The internal message was an acknowledgment of the unprecedented nature of the search and the subsequent pummeling the FBI had endured from Trump and his supporters. It also was a recognition that the FBI was navigating a moment so fraught that the normally taciturn Wray felt compelled to address employees about the ramifications of the investigation.
The pressures on Wray and the FBI have grown since then and are only likely to intensify. In its long history, the FBI has rarely been at the center of so many politically sensitive investigations. Agents are simultaneously examining the retention of classified documents by Trump and President Joe Biden. They also are scrutinizing efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election before the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol.
The inquiries, overseen by Justice Department special counsels, are unfolding in a hyperpartisan environment as the 2024 presidential election nears and as Congress conducts its own investigations of the FBI. All the while, the bureau has been subjected to regular attacks from Trump, his supporters and influential right-wing pundits, with the former president saying FBI “misfits” are less credible than Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In an interview with The Associated Press this week, Wray acknowledged the FBI was enduring tough times. But he played down the impact the “noise” had on day-to-day work, insisting the opinions he most valued were those of “the people we do the work for and those we do the work with.”
“I look not just at the one or two investigations being discussed breathlessly on social media or cable news but at the impact that we’re having across the board to protect the American people,” he said.
Adding to the tension: Republicans are using their newly minted House majority to investigate the investigators, accusing the FBI of abuses ranging from unfairly targeting Trump to suppressing free speech. They have highlighted disputed, uncorroborated whistleblower complaints against supervisors that the FBI for privacy reasons says it’s constrained from fully responding to.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a Wray critic and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told the AP last week he supported rank-and-file agents but was concerned about the leadership.
For Wray, the turbulence more a continuation of a recent trend than something new.
He was appointed by Trump in 2017 after the chaotic firing of his predecessor, James Comey, and as the FBI investigated ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign. Furious over that probe, Trump lashed out at Wray for the remainder of his term and openly flirted with firing him.
Wray ignored the verbal assaults, adhering to a “keep calm and tackle hard” mantra that he has repeatedly conveyed to agents but that can seem incongruous with a climate that is decidedly not calm. His approach did not change as the FBI initiated investigations involving the current and former presidents.
“We’re not well-served by wading into the fray, taking the bait and responding to every breathless allegation,” Wray told the AP. “So we will continue to push back and correct the record when we appropriately can. But as long as I’m director, we’re going to follow the FBI’s long history and tradition of letting our work do the talking.”
The AP talked to about two dozen current and former FBI officials for this story. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss FBI matters publicly. Many of those interviewed said they were distressed to see the FBI entangled in politics, lamenting not only the barrage of attacks the bureau faces but also Justice Department policies and actions, such as a memo directing the FBI to address threatening rhetoric at school board meetings, that they believe have injected the FBI into the partisan fray and invited criticism.