The Department of Justice Inspector General’s Office released a report on Wednesday following a years-long investigation that exonerated former President Donald Trump over the FBI’s plan to relocate its J. Edgar Hoover headquarters building.
The probe began at the behest of Democrats in Congress who claimed — without evidence, apparently — that then-President Trump pressured FBI Director Christopher Wray to approve a relocation site that would prevent a hotel competitor from being built on the Hoover Building site. The relocation plan was eventually discarded after FBI bean counters came to the conclusion that the government could not sell the Hoover Building to a developer for as much as it would cost to build a new headquarters elsewhere.
Investigators wrote in the report that despite Democrats’ claims, Wray said he felt no pressure at all from Trump to reach a 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.
