In the first of what will hopefully be many 2024 exonerations for former President Donald Trump, the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Justice just fully exonerated Trump in a probe into the relocation of the FBI’s J Edgar Hoover office building.
As background, the years-long probe began because Congressional Democrats claimed that then-President Donald Trump had ordered Christopher Wray, the Director of the FBI, to approve a relocation site for the office building that would prevent a hotel competitor from building on the site. Eventually, the relocation plan was scrapped when the FBI concluded that the government would not be able to resell the old Hoover Building to a developer for the amount building a new one would cost.
Describing the background to the investigation, the oversight document noted, “In May 2019, congressional committees expressed concern to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that the change in GSA’s and the FBI’s plans from a suburban campus facility to a new facility on the JEH site was the result of then President Donald Trump’s opposition to a suburban location because the JEH site would have been sold to a developer that could have built a hotel to compete with what was then the nearby Trump International Hotel, in which Trump had a financial interest. The OIG initiated this review in June 2019 to assess DOJ and the FBI’s planning for a future FBI Headquarters facility. ”
Exonerating Trump, the document notes that the decision made to not move the headquarters came based not on pressure from then-President Trump but instead because of factors making it the best decision. As the oversight document notes, “Wray told us that his decision to recommend staying in the current location was not based on anything that Trump said or wanted.”
Describing what factors were actually used, the oversight report notes, “According to Wray, he evaluated the following factors in making his recommendation: (1) the ability to consolidate personnel; (2) proximity to the FBI’s partners, including DOJ; (3) access to public transportation; (4) the facility’s security; (5) cost; and (6) a location that was ‘accessible and transparent to the American public.'”
Continuing, it adds, “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.” Several FBI officials also told the OIG that Wray told them that the decision to seek to remain at the JEH site was his decision.”
Concluding, the report notes that there is nothing to suggest Trump improperly pressured the FBI to change its plans based on his financial positions, saying, “We found no evidence that the FBI’s decision to seek to have its Headquarters remain in its current location was based on improper considerations or motives. We found that Wray testified credibly to the OIG about how he reached the decision independently and not as the result of any external pressure or influence.”
Similarly, it also notes, “With regard to possible influence by then President Trump or the White House, we found no evidence that the FBI’s decisions were based on improper considerations or motives. Specifically, we found no evidence that, in making the decision to seek to have the new FBI headquarters remain at its current JEH site, Director Wray or others at the FBI considered the location of the then named Trump International Hotel or how then President Trump’s financial interests could be impacted by the decision.”
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