Former President Donald Trump tried to get rid of FBI Director Chris Wray and install Trump loyalists to lead the bureau, including a former aide to Rep. Devin Nunes (R–CA), Politico reports.
Wray’s job often appeared under threat during Trump’s presidency, particularly when he broke with Trump publicly about the Russia investigation.
According to Politico, Trump went as far as to make plans to remove Wray as FBI director. But, the problem was the White House was not clear on how to do it without significant political backlash. Aides tasked with engineering a plan to get rid of Wray never knew how to do it and the DOJ rebuffed calls from the White House to fire him.
Trump wanted to install counterintelligence chief William Evanina as Wray’s replacement, and Kash Patel, a former aide to Rep. Nunes as Evanina’s deputy.
Patel had been a fierce critic of the Russia probe and was rewarded with a senior White House National Security job in 2019.
Trump only backed down from firing Wray when then-Attorney General Bill Barr threatened to resign if he followed through with the maneuver, according to Politico.
