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Outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray said Sunday the bureau had a duty to retrieve documents stored at President-elect Trump’s Florida home when it conducted a search of the facility in 2022 , adding that he has never discussed the investigation with President Biden.
During an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Wray said the office followed a policy of giving Trump multiple opportunities to return the documents before sending agents to his home in Florida.
“Part of the FBI’s job is to safeguard classified information, and when we learn of that information, classified material is not properly stored, we have a duty to act. And I can tell you that in investigations like this , a search warrant is not, and was not here, anyone’s first choice,” Wray said.
“We always try to pursue, invariably, try to find the least intrusive means, first by trying to retrieve the information voluntarily, then by subpoena, and only if, after all that, we find out that the agents didn’t get everything. of classified material, and indeed those efforts have been thwarted, even obstructed, then our agents have no choice but to go to a federal judge, show probable cause, and search them. mandate And that’s what happened here.”
Wray is set to step down from his post at the end of Biden’s term, with Trump nominating loyalist Kash Patel to fill the role, a sign the president-elect planned to fire Wray.
Although Trump has criticized the search as an unnecessary “raid,” he has been repeatedly asked to return the documents to his home.
Both the National Archives and the Department of Justice contacted Trump to return the records to his home.
The Justice Department later subpoenaed Trump for the records and asked for a signed certification that all records had been returned. But a later indictment detailed how Trump had the boxes of documents moved to hide them from his lawyer and investigators.
When the FBI searched Trump’s home, they recovered more than 300 classified documents, and Trump was later charged with violating the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice.
Those charges were dismissed without prejudice, however, after Trump’s election victory. A Florida judge is also blocking the Justice Department from releasing a report by special counsel Jack Smith, who has also resigned, on the Mar-a-Lago documents case.
Wray said Biden had no influence along the way.
“I have had no interaction with the Biden White House regarding the investigations into the former president,” he said.
“The president-elect had made it clear that he intended to make a change and the law is that this is something he can do for any reason or no reason at all,” Wray said.
