Former President Donald Trump has been cleared of one of the multiple accusations made by Democrats since his departure from office in 2020. According to a Department of Justice report, an extensive four-year review concluded that he had not influenced the FBI’s decision to maintain its headquarters in Washington, D.C., rather than moving it to Virginia or Maryland.
The discussion around relocating the FBI out of its iconic J. Edgar Hoover Building started two decades ago and became more serious in 2014 when they began seriously examining their options.
Initially, their plan was to transfer the property to a developer who would construct a new office complex at whatever location the Bureau chose for its facility; this arrangement was labeled an “exchange procurement.”
However, it was later discovered that the value of the existing property in D.C. did not cover all costs associated with constructing a new facility, leaving federal authorities responsible for additional expenses that needed to be covered. Thus, they developed an alternate plan which included demolishing the Hoover building and building their new facility onsite instead.
Members of the Democratic Party began to express concerns in January 2018 that President Trump had interfered with the General Services Administration (GSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and White House meeting regarding relocating the FBI headquarters.
In an October 2018 letter sent to the GSA, they accused him of being “directly involved” in the decision to abandon a long-term relocation plan and move ahead with an alternate plan.
They claimed that he did so due to his own financial interests related to the Trump Hotel.
To investigate these allegations, the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General’s Oversight and Review Division conducted a review; however, no evidence was found to support these claims.
In the division’s October report, they said they found nothing to substantiate the wild-eyed claims of the Democrat accusers.
“Specifically, we found no evidence that, in making the decision to seek to have the new FBI headquarters remain at its current JEH site, Director [Christopher] Wray or others at the FBI considered the location of the then-named Trump International Hotel or how then-President Trump’s financial interests could be impacted by the decision,” the report reads.
Wray stated that he did not believe there was any pressure from the White House concerning the matter.
“I did not feel pressured. I did not feel bullied,” Wray told the investigators. He added that Trump wasn’t really involved in the plans at all, and the decisions were not “driven by or based on … anything the President said or wanted.”
“There was no pressure to go in a particular direction. There was no requirement to stay in the current location. The Director concluded that the President had a topic that was in his element, he knows building. He was excited and engaged about the topic,” the report notes.
“There was nothing inappropriate or improper. The President said go forth and make plans,” the report concluded.
The Democrats have utilized the federal establishment to target, harass, and weaken President Trump both mentally, physically, and financially.
Their aim is not simply to prevent him from running for office again but to be utterly annihilated. This sentiment also applies to those who have supported him and his “MAGA” voters.
