FBI Director Christopher Wray should be more forthcoming amid efforts to get to the bottom of the bureau’s probe of spying on President Donald Trump’s campaign, the president said on Aug. 13.
Trump also took aim at his attorney general, calling on him to do the right thing about the investigation into the origin of the probe.
“They spied on my campaign, which is treason. They spied both before and after I won. Think of that. Using the intelligence apparatus of the United States to take down a president,” Trump said during a live phone interview with “Fox Business.”
“It’s the single biggest political crime in the history of our country.”
President Barack Obama’s administration sent spies to interact with Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, two Trump campaign associates, both during the time they were advisers to the campaign and after they left the campaign, giving intelligence assets the opportunity to spy on Trump or members of his campaign, according to Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz.
The applications to obtain secret spy warrants against Page were riddled with major errors and included a blatant omission in an email doctored by an FBI lawyer, Horowitz found in 2019, in stark contrast to applications to surveil other people.
The surveillance on Page was one component of a larger probe that explored whether Trump and his campaign had ties to Russian actors. A special counsel appointed to look at the matter couldn’t find evidence of any such ties.
Trump said he hopes the review of the investigation into his campaign leads somewhere, pinning the fault on Attorney General William Barr if it doesn’t.
“I hope they’re not going to be politically correct and say, well, you know, let’s just get the lower guys that forged the documents going into FISA,” or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Trump told host Maria Bartiromo.
“Bill Barr can go down as the great attorney general in the history of our country, or he can go down as just an average guy, it depends on what’s going to happen,” he added.
Lawmakers and others have teased developments in the probe led by U.S. Attorney John Durham, one of the investigators who has been probing the efforts against Trump for months, with nothing conclusive yet announced.
Barr, in a rare update on the probe, told lawmakers last month that the November election won’t delay Durham’s report. He previously said that criminal indictments may be coming against some people but not former President Barack Obama or former Vice President Joe Biden.
Trump also took aim at Wray.
“We have an election coming up. I wish he was more forthcoming. He certainly hasn’t been,” the president said.
Lawmakers and the White House are seeking documents the FBI has yet to hand over, Trump said, appearing to refer in part to Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) subpoena this week.
Wray “has been very, very protective,” Trump said. The president suggested that he didn’t choose to nominate Wray for the position but didn’t disclose who did, and the host didn’t press him on the detail.
“I said, go ahead, put whoever you want. I’m so honest that I said, you could put anybody you want. Let’s see how Wray turns out. He’s going to either turn out one way or the other,” he said.
The Department of Justice didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment. An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment.
The FBI says it has received Johnson’s subpoena.
“The FBI has already been producing documents and information to the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which are directly responsive to this subpoena. As always, the FBI will continue to cooperate with the Committee’s requests, consistent with our law enforcement and national security obligations,” the bureau said.
Ivan Pentchoukov and Janita Kan contributed to this report.
