FBI director: I don’t think Mueller investigation is a witch hunt

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday reiterated his belief that the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election is not a witch hunt. 

Wray appeared at the Aspen Security Forum, where NBC’s Lester Holt asked the FBI director if there’s anything in the “public realm” that would allow the investigation to be called a “witch hunt,” as President Trump frequently labels it.

“I’ve been consistent. I get asked this a lot,” Wray said. “I do not believe special counsel Mueller is on a witch hunt. I think it’s a professional investigation conducted by a man that I’ve known to be a straight shooter in all my interactions with him.”

{mosads}

FBI Director Wray to @LesterHoltNBC: “I do not believe Special Counsel Mueller is on a witch hunt. I think it’s a professional investigation.” pic.twitter.com/UsQgbWwU1T

— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) July 19, 2018

Wray has previously asserted that he does not believe Mueller’s investigation is a witch hunt. He made similar comments last month during a hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Trump, however, regularly lampoons Mueller’s investigation as a “witch hunt” and a “hoax.” He did so on Monday during a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, where the president cast doubt on whether he believes the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. 

He later expressed confidence in his intelligence officials and their assessment.

Mueller has thus far filed charges against more than 20 Russian nationals, including 12 Russian intelligence officials, for allegedly interfering in the 2016 election. He has also obtained guilty pleas or indictments against four former Trump associates thus far.