Trump Will Skip FBI Director Ceremony, Amid Bureaus Russia Probe
Source: Newsweek
BY MAX KUTNER ON 9/27/17 AT 12:06 PM
Updated | President Donald Trump will not attend a ceremony for FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday, the Department of Justice tells Newsweek. In skipping the event, Trump will avoid possible run-ins with former FBI Director James Comey and Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller.
Trump’s absence will be a departure from the previous administration, when former President Barack Obama attended and spoke at the installation ceremony for Comey.
Past FBI directors typically attend the ceremony. Trump’s absence also means he will avoid possible encounters with people connected to the bureau with whom he has tension. Comey, who Trump fired in May and whom the president has called a “leaker,” could be there, as could Mueller, Comey’s predecessor and now the special counsel overseeing the FBI investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign.
Andrew McCabe, the deputy director of the FBI, will be the master of ceremonies. Trump has claimed that McCabe received money from Hillary Clinton. (Two entities affiliated with Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Clinton ally, gave money to the state Senate campaign of McCabe’s wife.) The Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General launched an inquiry into the claims.
Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/trump-fbi-installation-ceremony-comey-mueller-mccabe-672500
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