Trump’s DOJ probes former FBI leadership over document mishandling allegations

By Katelyn Polantz, Evan Perez, CNN

(CNN) — The Justice Department is conducting a national security investigation around the FBI leadership when Christopher Wray was director, in the latest probe by the Trump administration of the president’s political enemies.

According to two people familiar with the investigation, the Western District of Virginia is leading the inquiry related to alleged destruction or mishandling of documents connected with the Durham special counsel investigation.

The investigation is looking at multiple potential subjects from the top leadership of the FBI from 2020 through 2024, at the time Wray was director.

Investigators have been seeking interviews in recent weeks and have spoken with staff who worked on the 7th floor of FBI headquarters during Wray’s tenure, where the leadership suite is, the sources said.

The investigation comes at a time when President Donald Trump has become more overt in calling for the prosecution of former FBI officials. Following the indictment of Wray’s predecessor James Comey last week, Trump on Saturday accused Wray of lying about the events of January 6, 2021, and insisting other indictments of his political opponents would come.

“Christopher Wray, the then Director of the FBI, has some major explaining to do. That’s two in a row, Comey and Wray, who got caught LYING, with our Great Country at stake,” Trump wrote on his social media site Truth Social on Saturday.

CNN has reached out to Wray for comment.

Multiple prosecutors are working on the investigation of the Wray-era FBI front office, which was of particular interest of now-FBI Director Kash Patel from his first months in the job. The investigation includes questions about documents that were stored in “burn bags,” which are often used to dispose of paper versions of classified records, the sources said.

The investigation appears to be intersecting as well with the recent declassification of part of the report written by former special counsel John Durham, who examined investigators who handled sensitive political investigations around Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016, one of the sources said.

The prosecutors appear to be pursuing the case ​in the Western District of Virginia because of how national security documents sometimes are retained in an FBI document storage facility in Winchester, which is in the district.

Attorney General Pam Bondi also recently directed federal prosecutors to launch a grand jury investigation around intelligence used by federal law enforcement in 2016.

While the investigation remains active, the US Attorney’s Office for Western Virginia is one among several that has faced inner turmoil in recent weeks. Former Virginia state prosecutor Robert Tracci has been in the position as acting US Attorney for a little over a month.

Trump’s initial appointee Todd Gilbert resigned only two months into his tenure after a standoff with the White House over who would be his deputy, according to another person familiar with the situation and local news outlets including the Roanoke Times.

A spokesman for the Western District of Virginia declined to comment.

Patel mentioned finding documents and hard drives in a room in FBI headquarters, in an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast in June. “My guys got are going through that right now,” Patel said on the podcast.

The front-office suite of the FBI is a specialized facility where classified documents can be kept.

The director’s office and others on the 7th floor are considered secure facilities used to store highly classified material and are outfitted with burn bags. Even now, according to current FBI officials, there are burn bags in use as part of the authorized manner to handle such documents; and documents in the burn bags are almost certainly backed up electronically, according to former and current bureau officials.

In recent days, Patel has continued his criticism of FBI leadership, writing on social media following the indictment of Comey that “for far too long, previous corrupt leadership and their enablers weaponized federal law enforcement, damaging once proud institutions and severely eroding public trust.”

Wray, whom Trump appointed to lead the FBI in 2017 after he fired Comey, resigned before Trump’s second inauguration in January, three years short of his 10-year term. During his farewell address, Wray called on the FBI to maintain its integrity.

“No matter what’s happening out there,” Wray said, “in here, we’ve got to stay committed to doing our work the right way every time … That means following the facts wherever they lead, no matter who likes it or doesn’t — because trust me, if there’s anything I’ve learned in this job, there’s always someone who doesn’t like you.”

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