President Donald Trump, in an exclusive interview Sunday with NBC News, accused former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray of “inappropriate” behavior during his tenure and said that he “would think” that the Justice Department is investigating him.
“I would imagine. I would certainly imagine. I would think they are doing that,” Trump said during a phone call when asked whether the Justice Department should investigate Wray.
Trump accused the former director of wrongdoing in the interview, telling NBC News that Wray, who resigned at the end of the Biden administration, “did a terrible job and we just found out about it.”
“I think it’s very inappropriate what he, what he did. And, I think a lot of his service was very inappropriate. But, we haven’t gone beyond that. Don’t forget, we just found out about all of these FBI agents being there,” he said. The comment about FBI agents “being there” was an apparent reference to an unfounded accusation Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday, alleging the FBI “secretly placed, against all Rules, Regulations, Protocols, and Standards, 274 FBI Agents into the Crowd just prior to, and during, the January 6th Hoax.”
Trump has repeated that unfounded claim multiple times in the past.
Last week, Blaze Media, a conservative media outlet, wrote that “FBI had 274 plainclothes agents embedded in Jan. 6 crowds, congressional source says.” NBC News has not independently confirmed the story.
In the Truth Social post on Saturday, the president also alleged that the agents were “probably acting as Agitators and Insurrectionists,” and certainly not as “Law Enforcement Officials.”
Trump’s post also directly called out Wray, saying he “has some major explaining to do.”
Wray has not publicly commented on the recent allegations.
There is no evidence that undercover FBI officers were at protests at or near the Capitol on Jan. 6. A report by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General in December 2024 concluded the same.
On Saturday evening, FBI Director Kash Patel gave a different description of the agency’s role on Jan. 6, 2021. Patel also criticized the FBI’s action on that day.
In a post on X and in an interview with Fox News, Patel said that agents were only at the Capitol after the riot began to try and control the unruly crowd.
“274 FBI agents were thrown into crowd control on Jan 6 against FBI standards. That failure was on corrupt leadership. Thanks to agents stepping up, the truth is coming out,” Patel wrote on X, in a post that has apparently been taken down.
“Agents were sent into a crowd control mission after the riot was declared by Metro Police — something that goes against FBI standards,” Patel told Fox News.
A senior former FBI official with knowledge of the bureau’s actions that day said the Blaze post was “completely and utterly untrue.”
“I know of no agents who were authorized to be in the crowds observing the constitutionally protected rights of citizens on January 6th,” said the official who requested anonymity, citing fear of retaliation.
Trump’s remarks about Wray come just days after another former FBI Director, James Comey, was indicted last week on two counts: making a false statement and obstruction of a congressional proceeding. The indictment relates to testimony Comey gave at a 2020 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing where he denied authorizing leaks of certain information to the media.
Comey has denied any wrongdoing and his indictment came after Trump publicly encouraged the Justice Department to pursue investigations against Comey and other political foes, like New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
Other Trump administration officials in recent weeks and months have hinted at other Justice Department investigations happening behind the scenes.
On Sunday, Vice President JD Vance told Fox News that, there are “certainly going to be more indictments coming over the next three and a half years of the Trump administration.”
Plans for Portland
Trump also spoke about directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to send troops to Oregon and that he was “authorizing Full Force, if necessary” to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in “War ravaged Portland.”
“They are literally attacking and there are fires all over the place. … It looks, like, terrible,” Trump said. “Can’t have that in an American city. But this has been going on for a long time. This has been going on for years, actually.”
On Saturday, Democratic Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said she told Trump in a phone call that the state did not need federal troops to be sent there. “Our city is a far cry from the war ravaged community that he has posted about on social media and I conveyed that directly to him,” Kotek said at a press conference. “The president will not find lawlessness or violence here.” On Sunday, Oregon officials filed a preliminary injunction to stop the deployment.
Though on Sunday the president stopped short of committing to send in troops, telling NBC News that “we’ll make a decision on that pretty soon.”
He also promised federal operations in Chicago, something he’s been floating for weeks.
“Chicago is a mess. It’s a crime-ridden mess,” the president said, adding later, “Any place where there is big trouble, we want to go and help out.”
Trump also referenced what he called a “successful” operation in Washington, D.C., where the federal government surged federal law enforcement officers and National Guard troops in August.
“Look at Washington, D.C., it’s doing so beautifully now. Everybody is so happy. This was a crime-ridden mess, absolute crime-ridden mess, and look at it now, it’s so successful,” he said.
The National Guard was also deployed to Los Angeles this year, where thousands of troops and hundreds of Marines arrived in the city on federal orders to quell anti-ICE protests in June.
The president has threatened to send troops and a surge of federal law enforcement officers to other cities run by Democratic mayors as well, including Baltimore and New Orleans.
Earlier this month, the president created a task force to mobilize resources to Memphis, too, a move welcomed by Tennessee GOP Gov. Bill Lee.
Impending government shutdown
Trump and congressional leaders are also facing a looming deadline to avoid a government shutdown on Wednesday, if Democrats and Republicans don’t agree on a continuing resolution.
On Sunday, Trump said that a shutdown is “a possibility.”
The president is slated to meet with congressional leaders from both parties at the White House on Monday.
Last week, the Trump administration laid the groundwork to permanently lay off mass numbers of federal workers that would normally be temporarily furloughed for the length of a government shutdown.
“We are going to cut a lot of the people that, you know, we’re able to cut, if there is [a shutdown],” the president said Sunday. “We’re able to cut on a permanent basis and we will be doing that. I’d rather not do that.”
He also blamed Democrats for causing a potential shutdown, accusing them of wanting to fund healthcare for immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. Senate Democrats earlier this month sought to pass their own version of a stopgap spending bill that would have restored cuts to Medicaid that Republicans implemented earlier this year.
Neither that measure, nor a measure that the House passed to keep funding at current levels through Nov. 21, received enough votes to pass in the Senate earlier this month
“The problem we have with the shutdown is that Democrats want to do all healthcare for illegal immigrants,” Trump said. “We’re not going to do that.”
On Sunday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., echoed Trump, telling NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that it was “totally up to the Democrats” whether a shutdown would occur.
“What the Democrats have done here is take the federal government as a hostage — and for that matter, by extension, the American people — to try and get a whole laundry list of things that they want that special interest groups on the far left are pushing them to accomplish,” he added.
In an interview afterwards, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called for “a serious negotiation“ with Republicans.
“We need the meeting. It’s a first step, but only a first step. We need a serious negotiation,” he told “Meet the Press.”
Previewing Netanyahu meeting
The president also spoke about an upcoming meeting he has planned on Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, telling NBC News that he’s optimistic a deal can be reached to end the war in Gaza.
“We’re doing very well. It looks like there is a really good chance for peace in the Middle East. Everybody is on board. Everybody,” Trump said.
His remarks come as Trump last week said he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank.
“It’s not going to happen,” he told reporters in a press gaggle.
So far, no one has revealed the details of a potential peace deal between Hamas and Israel, but Vice President JD Vance on Sunday told Fox News that he was “cautiously hopeful” that both sides could reach a deal.
“But I think the President’s optimism is warranted here. I feel more optimistic about where we are right now than where we have been at any point in the last few months, but let’s be realistic, these things can get derailed at the very last minute. So while I remain very hopeful, I am cautiously hopeful,” Vance said.
