The report from the inspector general of the Justice Department was published at the end of the previous month, following an extensive investigation that spanned several years. The study concluded that former President Donald Trump was cleared of any wrongdoing in relation to the FBI’s proposal to transfer its headquarters building named after J. Edgar Hoover.
The investigation commenced subsequent to allegations made by Democrats against the former President Trump, asserting that he exerted pressure on FBI Director Christopher Wray, whom he had chosen subsequent to the dismissal of James Comey, to approve a new location for the headquarters building. The alleged objective of this relocation was to impede a hotel competitor from establishing their presence on the previous Hoover building site.
The concept was ultimately abandoned subsequent to the determination made by FBI accountants that the Hoover Building could not be sold to a prospective developer by the federal government at a price equivalent to the expenses associated with the construction of an altogether new edifice.
According to the report by investigators from the Department of Justice Inspector General (DOJ IG), it was observed that the FBI director explicitly stated that he did not experience any form of coercion from President Trump to make a certain choice, contrary to assertions made by members of the Democratic party.
“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 the year 2018, members of the Democratic Party, under the leadership of the late Representative Elijah Cummings from Maryland, made allegations against President Trump. These allegations suggested that President Trump was attempting to safeguard his Trump International Hotel located in Washington D.C., which happened to be conveniently situated within a three-minute walking distance 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.”
The report reads:
In September 2017, President Trump called Wray and asked him what he wanted to do about the FBI Headquarters. Wray responded that he had not had a chance to look at the issue yet, and Trump advised Wray to work on it with GSA and tell Trump what Wray thought. In late 2017, then White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told Wray that it did not make sense to the President why the FBI would want to leave the JEH site.
In December 2017, Wray informed GSA that the FBI wanted its Headquarters to remain in its current location. Following a January 4, 2018 meeting in which the FBI presented JEH renovation plans to GSA, GSA recommended demolishing JEH, instead of renovating it, and building a new facility on the site.
“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 noted further.
“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.
Rephrased from: The Republic Brief By: Trump Knows
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