The inspector general for the Justice Department released a report late last month after a years-long probe exonerating former President Donald Trump over the FBI’s plan to relocate its J. Edgar Hoover headquarters building.
The investigative began after Democrats accused then-President Trump of pressuring FBI Director Christopher Wray, whom he appointed after firing James Comey, to sign off on a relocation site for the HQ building that would prevent a hotel competitor from relocating on the former Hoover building site.
The plan was eventually dropped after FBI accountants decided that the federal government couldn’t sell the Hoover Building to a would-be developer for as much as it would cost to construct an entirely new building.
DOJ IG investigators noted in their report that in spite of claims by Democrats, the FBI director said that at no time did he feel pressured by Trump to reach a particular decision.
“Wray told us that his decision to recommend staying in the current location was not based on anything that Trump said or wanted… Wray told us that Trump was ‘not involved’ in Wray’s recommendation, and he did not feel that Trump was trying to ‘steer [him] to a particular outcome,’” they wrote