I’ve made it no secret here that I think that Donald Trump is the second-best president of my lifetime, just behind Ronald Reagan. His accomplishments with the judiciary, the economy, and foreign policy in his all-too-brief time in the Oval Office were spectacular. The Left can try to rewrite that story all they want, but the proof is there.
Because I have never been — and never will be — a politician fan boy, I have no problem criticizing the things I didn’t like about Trump’s presidency. There were two glaring screw-ups, the first being his weaponizing of Anthony Fauci in the early days of the pandemic. I know there are a lot of hardcore Trump fans who have been creating an alt-history to refute that, but it’s on video, kids.
That, however, pales in comparison to the fact that Trump didn’t do much Swamp-draining at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Specifically, he didn’t fire FBI Director Christoper Wray when he had the chance.
Thanks to the small but active Republican majority in the House, Wray was back on Capitol Hill Wednesday to answer some questions. As always, Wray was evasive and prevaricating.
Paula wrote about the hearing:
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI Director Christopher Wray claimed that he doesn’t know how many assets his agency had on the ground on January 6—or whether there were any at all.
Rep Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) asked Wray, “Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund reportedly has asserted that the protest crowd was filled with federal agents. Are you aware of his assertion?”
“I am not,” Wray said.
Seriously, this guy’s in charge?
If we are to believe Wray’s two brief responses there, he’s a hot mess of incompetence and ignorance. Of course, we really can’t believe anything he says. Unless the FBI doesn’t have internet, there is no way that Wray isn’t aware of Sund’s claim about January 6. It’s the FBI’s job to be aware.
As I have said and written many times, it’s stunning to me that Trump didn’t fire this guy as he was on his way out the door. That would have been one small bit of poetic comeuppance. It’s not as if Trump hadn’t grown weary of the FBI head long before that. In September of 2020, Trump told Chris Christie (remember when they used to play nice?) that Wray was the “worst member” of his administration. Christie had recommended Wray to Trump. Given what we know about Christie now, it’s not a stretch to think he may have been engaged in some advance sabotage.
Despite his bluster about draining the Swamp, Trump barely emptied more than a bucket or two out of it. Sure, it started off well, with Trump firing Wray’s predecessor James Comey in May of 2017. The drainage appeared to be on.
Trump did end up being distracted a lot by a combination of harassment from the media and seemingly endless staffing drama, but that’s not an excuse for not draining the Swamp. He did accomplish a lot despite those distractions.
The Wray-led FBI that Trump left alone couldn’t wait to link arms with the Democrats and get in on the COVID totalitarian tyranny. This is from something Catherine wrote about Tuesday’s hearing:
The House Judiciary Committee held a July 12 hearing to hold Biden’s FBI Director Christopher Wray to some accountability. During the hearing, Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) slammed school COVID-19 policies in 2021 and grilled Wray on the supposed justifications for FBI targeting of parents who complained about those school policies. The FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) actually used counterterrorism tools to target parents unhappy with abusive COVID policies, according to congressional Republicans. Kiley got Wray to admit that the investigations into the supposedly “extremist” parents were launched without solid evidence to justify them.
It bears repeating that the FBI moved on from that to targeting Roman Catholics at Mass.
Now Wray reports to an attorney general who is hell-bent on revenge because Republicans kept him off the Supreme Court. They’re doing double duty to interfere with the 2024 presidential election by protecting the Biden crime family and working overtime to destroy Trump and keep him off the ballot.
The point can certainly be made that, had Trump fired Wray, his successor may have been equally bad.
He or she may not have, on the other hand.
Wray is just the face of this. The FBI needed a thorough top-down shakeup after Comey was shown the door by Trump.
It’s easy to give Garland all the blame here, but that Wray/Christie alliance makes me think that Wray doesn’t need a lot of nudging from the boss to go after Trump. There’s also the fact that Wray has proven to be quite the snake whenever he’s asked to answer for the Bureau’s heavy-handed actions.
I have no doubt that Trump regrets leaving Wray and his FBI intact, insofar as he is capable of regret.
If Trump does manage to win next year, it’s a safe bet that Christopher Wray will be “retiring” long before Inauguration Day 2025.
Click the button below to get the Morning Briefing emailed to you every weekday. Have your coffee with me, people. It’s free and it supports conservative media!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member