Wray defends Mar-a-Lago search: 'Part of the FBI’s job is to safeguard classified information'
Outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray said Sunday the bureau had a duty to retrieve the documents stored in President-elect Trump’s Florida home, when it conducted a search of the premises in 2022, adding that he has never discussed the investigation with President Biden.
During an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Wray said the bureau followed policy in giving Trump multiple opportunities to return the documents before sending its agents into his Florida home.
“Part of the FBI’s job is to safeguard classified information, and when we learn that information, classified material is not being properly stored, we have a duty to act. And I can tell you that in investigations like this one, a search warrant is not — and here was not – anybody's first choice,” Wray said.
“We always try to pursue, invariably, try to pursue the least intrusive means, first trying to get the information back voluntarily, then with a subpoena, and only if, after all that, we learn that the agents haven't been given all of the classified material, and in fact, those efforts have been frustrated, even obstructed, then our agents are left with no choice but to go to a federal judge, make a probable cause showing and get a search warrant. 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 serve in the role, a sign the president-elect planned to fire Wray.
While Trump has blasted the search as an unnecessary "raid," he was asked multiple times to return the documents in his home.
Both the National Archives and the Justice Department contacted Trump about returning the records in 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 spelled out how Trump had the boxes of documents moved to conceal them from his attorney and investigators.
When the FBI searched Trump’s home, they recovered more than 300 documents with classified markings, and Trump was later charged with violating the Espionage Act as well as obstruction of justice.
Those charges were dismissed without prejudice, however, after Trump’s electoral victory. A Florida judge is also blocking the Justice Department from releasing a report from Special Counsel Jack Smith, who has also resigned, into the Mar-a-Lago documents case.
Wray said Biden had no influence along the way.
“I haven't had any interaction with the Biden White House about investigations into the former president,” he said.
“The president-elect had made clear that he intended to make a change and the law is that that is something he’s able to do for any reason or no reason at all,” Wray said.