White House attorneys have urged President Donald Trump not to give FBI Director Chris Wray the boot, according to NBC News.
Pat Cipollone, who leads the White House legal team, and the rest of the lawyers have reportedly warned Trump that ousting the FBI director could lead to the same legal quagmire the President had to deal with when he fired now-former FBI Director James Comey several years ago. Trump had done so after attempting to convince Comey to end an investigation into Michael Flynn, whom the President had appointed as his national security adviser.
White House lawyers are reportedly worried that firing Wray, who has infuriated Trump by debunking the President’s falsehoods about mass voter fraud and not opening an investigation into Hunter Biden before the elections, would give a similar appearance of punishing a non-partisan intelligence chief for being insufficiently loyal or for refusing to boost Trump politically.
White House spokesperson Judd Deere dodged the issue in a statement.
“If the President doesn’t have confidence in someone he will let you know,” Deere said. “We have no personnel announcements at this time.”
The spokesperson’s comment echoed that of White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany when she was asked whether Attorney General Bill Barr, who resigned earlier this week, still had Trump’s confidence after the attorney general, like Wray, clashed with the President’s false claims about voter fraud.
“The President, if he has any personnel announcement, you will be the first to know it,” McEnany said in early December.
