Republican South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds said Sunday on ABC News that FBI Director Christopher Wray is a “good man” and that he has “no complaints” about his job performance, even as President-elect Donald Trump plans to fire him.
Trump announced Saturday his new pick for FBI director as his former chief of staff to the secretary of defense, Kash Patel. On ABC News’ “This Week,” co-host Jonathan Karl began by questioning the lawmaker on his initial reaction to Trump’s nomination, to which Rounds pointed out that it was not only within the president’s rights to make a nomination but also normal for a president to want a loyalist on his team.
“I’ll also share with you — Chris Wray, you know, who the president nominated the first time around. I think the president picked a very good man to be the director of the FBI when he did that in his first term. When we meet with him behind closed doors, I’ve had no objections to the way that he’s handled himself. So I don’t have any complaints about the way that he’s done his job right now,” Rounds said.
WATCH:
“Once again, the president has the right to make nominations, but normally these are for a 10-year term. We’ll see what his process is and whether he actually makes that nomination,” Rounds said. “Then if he does, just as with anybody who is nominated for one of these positions, once they’ve been nominated by the president, then the president gets, the benefit of the doubt on the nomination. But we still go through a process, and that process includes advice and consent, which for the Senate means advice or consent sometimes.”
Over the years, Republicans have repeatedly called out Wray, with all the 2024 GOP presidential candidates, except for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, vowing they would fire the director and implement either structural reforms or dismantle the bureau altogether.
Patel has also long vocalized his criticism of the weaponization of the surveillance state, stating during a recent podcast what his plans would be if he were to assume the director’s role.
“I’d shut down the FBI Hoover building on day one and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state,” Patel said in the interview. “I’d take the 7,000 employees who work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals.”
All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
Republished with permission from Daily Caller News Foundation
