In an investigation of the FBI’s plans to move out of the renowned J. Edgar Hoover building, the Department of Justice cleared former President Donald Trump on Thursday, finding that claims of collaboration to defend his hotel in Washington, D.C. were baseless.
The report was first requested by congressional Democrats, who asserted without providing any proof that President Trump was pressuring former Director Christopher Wray to approve a relocation plan that would have prevented the construction of a rival hotel on the site of the Hoover Building. This request led to the release of the report by the DOJ’s Oversight and Review Division. The Bureau finally decided against moving after realizing that selling the Hoover Building to a private developer would not be enough to pay for a new building.
The report’s authors stated that Wray did not sense any pressure from President Trump to make a choice.
“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.
“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,” the report reads.”
The controversy started in 2018 when Democrats, lead by House oversight panel member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), charged that President Trump was using his power to defend the Trump International Hotel, which was only three minutes’ walk from the Hoover Building.
“Given this background, President Trump should have avoided all interactions or communications relating to the FBI headquarters project to prevent both real and perceived conflicts of interest,” Democrats wrote at the time. “He should not have played any role in a determination that bears directly on his own financial interests with the Trump hotel.”
The victory suggests that federal government investigators may be losing interest in prosecuting President Trump, although special counsel Jack Smith is still pursuing two distinct cases against the front-runner of the Republican Party, the potential cost of which might reach $25 million a year. Smith has encountered several legal obstacles while battling Trump’s strong legal staff.
The post HAPPENING NOW: Trump EXONERATED In Years-Long DOJ Probe appeared first on The Republic Brief.
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