FBI chief refuses to deny reports he threatened to resign amid pressure

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday refused to deny reports that he threatened to resign amid pressure to fire senior FBI officials.

Wray told NBC News senior justice correspondent Pete Williams in an interview excerpt broadcast on “Nightly News” that he does not feel any political pressure from the White House.

Pressed on whether President Trump has asked the FBI chief to say anything, Wray responded, “He’s never asked me to do anything with the Russian investigation.”

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“I have been very clear — from the minute I was nominated to the minute I walked in the door to countless opportunities since then — that I am unwaveringly committed to doing this job by the book, independently, following our rules and our processes free from political or partisan influence,” Wray said.

Asked if he was saying that media reports he had threatened to resign were wrong, Wray demurred, saying he was “not going to talk about specific conversations.”

Axios reported earlier this year that Attorney General Jeff Sessions pressured Wray to fire then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe but Wray threatened to resign if McCabe was removed.

White House counsel Don McGahn reportedly told Sessions that it wasn’t worth firing McCabe if it meant losing Wray.

Wray’s remarks come just days after Sessions fired McCabe, the No. 2 FBI official, just two days before the senior law enforcement official was set to retire.

Sessions said McCabe, who had already stepped down under pressure in January, had made an unauthorized disclosure to the media and “lacked candor” with investigators, a fireable offense. 

McCabe claims that he had the authority to share the information and that he was fired as part of a larger effort to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential contest.

Trump had spent months accusing McCabe of being biased against him and celebrated the FBI official’s dismissal on Twitter last week, calling it “a great day for democracy.”