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NEW: Then-Attorney General Bill Barr threatened to quit last spring when Trump tried to fire FBI Director Chris Wray, @thisisinsider has learned. https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-chris-wray-profile-biden-doj-justice-department-garland-barr-2021-5
It happened last spring. Barr had arrived at the White House for a meeting last spring when a Trump aide intercepted him. Ushered into the Roosevelt Room, Barr encountered Johnny McEntee, the former college quarterback who had become a top Trump aide.
McEntee introduced Barr to Bill Evanina, a top counterintelligence official in the administration who had previously worked at the FBI. "What's this all about?" Barr asked, failing to see the point of the meeting.
Before long, Barr saw through the awkward introduction. Evanina was being presented as the answer to a question that had stymied the White House as President Donald Trump flirted openly with firing FBI Director Chris Wray: Who, if not Wray, should lead the bureau?
Barr turned on his heels and left the room.
The episode, which has not been previously reported and was described to @thisisinsider by a person briefed on the matter, was seen in some corners of the Trump administration as the closest Wray came to getting fired.
The episode, which has not been previously reported and was described to @thisisinsider by a person briefed on the matter, was seen in some corners of the Trump administration as the closest Wray came to getting fired.
When told of the plotting — which also involved replacing then-Deputy FBI Director David Bowdich with the controversial Trump national security advisor Kash Patel — Barr threatened to resign in protest, according to the person briefed on the deliberations.
A year later, Wray now finds himself less a holdover from the Trump administration than a survivor of it. Behind him are the days of a White House out for his head and of a scandal-ridden president griping in private about the federal government's interest in his own affairs.
"He'll have more time to devote to the types of things that the FBI director historically has focused on, as opposed to Twitter storms and the latest tantrum or eruption from the White House," said Charlie Steele, who served as Robert Mueller's FBI chief of staff from 2004-2006.
For Wray, 54, the Biden administration has come with a calmer political climate — at least as far as his job security is concerned.
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Check out the rest of this @cryanbarber story & much more w/ a @thisisinsider subscription. Sign up by clicking from here: https://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-chris-wray-profile-biden-doj-justice-department-garland-barr-2021-5
