FBI director Christopher Wray has refused to confirm nor deny whether he threatened to resign while facing pressure from Attorney General Sessions.
Wray took the top job at the bureau last year in the wake of Donald Trump’s dismissal of James Comey.
Following reports in January that Wray had threatened to resign when pressed to fire some staff in the bureau’s senior ranks, Trump insisted Wray made no threat to resign.
But in an interview with NBC News that aired on Tuesday evening, Wray refused to comment on the matter.
FBI director Christopher Wray has refused to confirm nor deny whether he threatened to resign while facing pressure from Attorney General Sessions
‘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 always unwaveringly committed to doing this job by the books, independently, following our rules and our processes free from political or partisan influence,’ he said.
When pressed on whether he ever threatened to resign, he said: ‘I’m not going to talk about specific conversations.’
In that interview, he also said he doesn’t feel political pressure from the White House regarding the ongoing Russia investigation.
He added that Trump has ‘never asked me to do anything with the Russia investigation.’
Last week, Sessions fired Andrew McCabe (pictured), the former deputy director of the FBI, shortly before he was due to retire for allegedly lying in an in-house investigation
Last week, Sessions fired Andrew McCabe, the former deputy director of the FBI, shortly before he was due to retire for allegedly lying in an in-house investigation.
It came after months of criticism from Trump, who had accused McCabe of being biased against him.
Trump gleefully celebrated the firing with a tweet, saying: ‘Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI – A great day for Democracy.’
He adding an insult for McCabe’s former boss, writing ‘sanctimonious James Comey was his boss and made McCabe look like a choirboy.’
Donald Trump gleefully celebrated Andrew McCabe’s firing with a tweet (pictured)
Trump followed that with a Twitter attack on special counsel Robert Mueller, who took over the collusion investigation after he fired Comey in May 2017.
‘The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime,’ Trump said, alleging that Mueller’s team of investigators are all opposition Democrats. ‘Does anyone think this is fair?’
On Saturday, Trump’s lawyer John Dowd, speaking to The Daily Beast, appeared to interfere in the case when he called for ‘an end to alleged Russia collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe’s boss James Comey.’