Following an investigation that lasted three years and cleared former President Donald Trump over the FBI’s proposal to move its J. Edgar Hoover headquarters, the inspector general of the Justice Department published a report late last month.
An inquiry into then-President Trump’s alleged pressure on FBI Director Christopher Wray was initiated by a Democrat’s charges. Trump had fired James Comey and then appointed Wray. The probe was centered on allegations that Trump wanted Wray to OK a shift of the company headquarters that would prevent a rival hotel chain from relocating on the site of the former Hoover building.
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The accountants’ conclusion that the government would not generate enough money from the sale to pay the cost of a new construction led to the FBI’s proposal to sell the Hoover facility in order to fund the construction of a new facility being abandoned.
The FBI Director disputes Democratic allegations that he was under pressure from Trump. The DOJ IG report supports his position.
“Wray told us that his decision to recommend staying in the current location was not based on anything that Trump said or wanted… Wray told us that Trump was ‘not involved’ in Wray’s recommendation, and he did not feel that Trump was trying to ‘steer [him] to a particular outcome,’” they wrote.
“Specifically, we found no evidence that, in making the decision to seek to have the new FBI headquarters remain at its current JEH site, Director Wray or others at the FBI considered the location of the then-named Trump International Hotel or how then-President Trump’s financial interests could be impacted by the decision,” the report reads.”
In 2018, Trump was accused by Democrats, headed by the late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), of trying to protect his Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., which is within three minutes’ walk from the Hoover Building.
“Given this background, President Trump should have avoided all interactions or communications relating to the FBI headquarters project to prevent both real and perceived conflicts of interest,” Democrats wrote then. “He should not have played any role in a determination that bears directly on his own financial interests with the Trump hotel.”
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The study stated:
In September 2017, President Trump asked Wray for opinions regarding the FBI Headquarters. Wray said he hadn’t given the situation much thought yet. Trump then recommended that Wray work with the GSA and offer his viewpoint. The President was perplexed when, later that year, John Kelly, the former chief of staff of the White House, asked why the FBI would think about leaving the JEH location.
at December 2017, the FBI stated that it wanted to remain at its existing location for Headquarters. Following an FBI presentation of renovation plans on January 4, 2018, the GSA recommended tearing down the existing structure and erecting a new one in its stead.
“On January 24, 2018, before a meeting with President Trump, Kelly met in his White House office with Wray, then Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, then White House Counsel Donald McGahn, then OMB Director Mick Mulvaney, and then GSA Administrator Emily Murphy,” The report made other notes.
“During this premeeting, consensus was reached on demolishing JEH and building a new facility on the site, and Wray learned that Mulvaney would support the P3 financing strategy. The same participants then met in the Oval Office with Trump, who asked Wray and Murphy what they were thinking,” the IG report added.
“Wray and Murphy told Trump that they thought the best idea was for the FBI to build a new facility in the current location, and Trump expressed support for this plan. Wray told us that he did not feel pressured or bullied by Trump in the meeting,” it said.
“Although most of the conversation focused on Trump’s construction questions about the new facility, Wray also recalled impressing on Trump that Mulvaney’s P3 support was critical for the project, but Wray did not remember what Trump said about the project funding,” said the report.
