The first reaction to former President Donald Trump’s promise to order the Department of Justice investigates his political opponentsFBI Director Christopher Wray said he will not allow his agents to conduct any investigation that is inconsistent with “our rules, procedures, best practices and core values.”
In an interview Tuesday Speaking to NBC News’ Lester Holt at FBI headquarters, Wray said as long as he’s FBI director, “he’s going to make sure we do the right thing the right way.”
“And that means upholding the law, following our rules, staying true to our core values, enforcing the law without fear or favour,” he said.
FBI Rules prohibit agents from opening an investigation without criminal evidence and the Department of Justice Rules say that agents may never make investigative or prosecution decisions to favor or harm any candidate or political party.
Wray was appointed by Trump in 2017 to a 10-year term. Asked if he would want to continue as FBI director if Trump is re-elected, Wray said: “I enjoy doing the job. I love the men and women of the FBI, some of the best people I have ever had the chance to work with. And as long as I think I can continue to do it within all those rules and regulations, I’d like to continue doing it.”
Trump publicly criticized Wrey multiple times before he left office in 2021, and has since criticized the FBI, particularly his role. A search of his home in Mar-a-Lago in 2022 for classified documents. So, if Trump is elected, it is believed that he will try to remove Wray and appoint a new director.
In response to the question, Wray also distanced himself from Trump over the former president’s question characteristic On January 6, the defendants as “collateral”.
“I see the defendants in the January 6th cases as criminal defendants charged with federal crimes and facing independent courts as part of our legal system,” Wray said. “In our country, there are all kinds of people who get angry and angry about all kinds of things and all kinds of people. But there is a proper way to express how sorry you are about the First Amendment. And violence—violence against law enforcement, destruction of federal property—isn’t it.
In the wide-ranging interview, Wray also discussed a number of national security threats, including terrorism, cyber attacks and the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok.
Asked about protests and violence on college campuses related to the Israel-Hamas war, he said the FBI is “very focused on working with state and local law enforcement, campus law enforcement and others to make sure we stay ahead of the threat.” . is to prevent anti-Semitic violence and prevent violence against the Jewish community.
He said the FBI does not monitor protests but “shares intelligence with campuses and state and local law enforcement about specific threats of violence.”
Wray reiterated his recent comments, stressing that the terrorist threat since Oct. 7 remains as high as it has been in some time, particularly from lone actors or small groups radicalized at home as a result of the war. But he said there were high fears of a coordinated terrorist attack in a public place, which for the past decade had been seen as an extremely remote prospect by intelligence officials.
“We are getting more and more worried [about] “There’s the potential for some kind of coordinated attack here at home, which might not be that different from what you saw against a concert hall in Russia a few weeks ago from ISIS-K.”
Congress asked TikTok to describe a real-world national security threat moves to pass The bill would require the Chinese owner to sell the platform, Wray emphasized.
According to him, national security officials have accused China’s intelligence services of TikTok’s “ability to collect information, the ability to control the recommendation algorithm, meaning the ability to downplay CCP stories, pro-CCP narratives, criticism of the Chinese government, in effect, draw millions of users into unwitting advocates of CCP propaganda.” .”
He added that the Chinese government also “has the ability to monitor software that allows devices, phones, millions and millions of phones to be technically compromised.”
Asked what he would say to the millions of people in the US who regularly use TikTok for business or pleasure and simply don’t care about the perceived risks, Wray replied: “My message is that you have to consider who the Chinese are. government, who is the Chinese Communist Party.
Wray echoed his sentiment evaluations China, Russia and Iran have said they may try to interfere in the upcoming elections, and all three countries are continuing cyber espionage and offensive cyber operations against the United States. According to him, China is positioning itself in such a way that it can destroy critical infrastructure if the United States tries to defend Taiwan from Chinese invasion.
Chinese cyberbombs placed on critical infrastructure, he said, “would allow them to create panic or break America’s willingness to resist something like, let’s say, the Chinese government’s effort to move into Taiwan.”
Wray lamented the increase in threats of violence against government officials, including FBI agents.
“Certainly, we’ve seen an increase in threats against FBI personnel and FBI facilities over the past few years,” he said. “This is unacceptable. And you know, honestly, it’s mean. However, this is part of a wider phenomenon of threats and violence against law enforcement agencies and government officials. “Anytime you start talking about threatening people just for doing their jobs, that’s really disgusting.”
“Having a tooth tag shouldn’t make you a target,” he said.
When asked what he thought the threats stemmed from, Wray said, “There’s a broad phenomenon in the country right now where people across the spectrum choose to use violence as a way to express themselves when they’re upset about something. And this is very dangerous and problematic.”
He added that he believes there’s another factor fueling the threats: Some Americans don’t see an FBI investigation, trial or court case as fair or legitimate if the outcome isn’t “what they want.”
“It can’t be the standard of fairness, objectivity and legality, or we’re in the pickle of hell,” Wray said.