FBI Director Wray Doesn’t Deny He Threatened to Quit After Being Pressured to Fire McCabe
EXCLUSIVE: FBI Director Christopher Wray responds to questions about the Russia investigation and whether he threatened to resign over being urged to fire people.
See more from Pete Williams' interview with Wray tomorrow on the @TODAYshow. pic.twitter.com/pHoGlREI8G
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) March 20, 2018
Back in January, it was reported that FBI Director Christopher Wray threatened to quit after Attorney General Jeff Sessions pressured him to fire then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Sessions was reportedly acting on President Donald Trump’s urging. The White House, however, backed off after Sessions explained Wray would step down if McCabe was terminated.
In an interview with NBC News’ Pete Williams, Wray sorta kinda confirmed the reports as he wouldn’t explicitly deny them while stating that he was committed to doing his job properly without any partisan influence.
After telling Williams that he didn’t feel any political pressure from the White House and the president hasn’t asked him anything about the Russia probe, he was asked if the reports were correct that he “threatened to resign over being urged to fire people.”
“You know, I have been very clear from the minute I was nominated to the minute I walked in the door to countless opportunities since then that I am unwaveringly committed to doing this job by the book, independently,” Wray answered. “Following our rules, our processes, free from political or partisan influence.”
Williams pressed Wray, noting the FBI chief wasn’t saying the reports were wrong.
“I’m not going to talk about specific conversations,” Wray said.
Of course, in the end, Sessions ended up firing McCabe last week, 26 hours before McCabe would reach his full pension. Earlier this year, McCabe had stepped down from his position and was using accrued time off to reach his retirement date.
Watch the clip above, via NBC News.
[image via screengrab]
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