Christopher Wray Defends Mar-a-Lago Raid on Trump In 60 Minutes Interview: 'We Have A Duty To Act' [View all]

Source: MEDIAite

Jan 12th, 2025, 10:30 pm


Outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray defended the raid on President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate over his handling of classified material.

In August 2022, the agency raided Trump’s Palm Beach residence after receiving authorization from Attorney General Merrick Garland. The FBI was seeking documents Trump had allegedly taken with him from the White House.

During an interview on 60 Minutes with CBS News anchor Scott Pelley, Wray claimed the agency had “a duty to act” when it became aware that classified information was “not being properly stored.” Wray also noted he has not talked with the Biden White House about Trump’s criminal investigations.

WRAY: I want to be careful not to discuss too many of the specifics of an investigation. But what I can tell you is that– part of the FBI’s job is to safeguard classified information. And when we learn that information, classified material, is not being properly stored, we have a duty to act. And I can tell you that in investigations like this one, a search warrant is not and here was not anybody’s first choice. We always try to pursue, invariably try to pursue the least intrusive means: first trying to get the information back voluntarily, then with a subpoena. And only if, after all that, we learn that the agents haven’t been given all of the classified material and in fact those efforts have been frustrated, even obstructed, then our agents are left with no choice but to go to a federal judge, make a probable cause showing, and get a search warrant. And that’s – that’s what happened here.