EXCLUSIVE: Trump declines to say he has confidence in FBI director

President Trump on Monday declined to say he has confidence in Christopher Wray and stressed that he disagrees with the FBI director, who has said he does not believe there was spying on the president’s 2016 campaign.

“Well, we’ll see how it turns out,” Trump said in an exclusive interview with The Hill when asked about his level of confidence in Wray. “I mean, I disagree with him on that and I think a lot of people are disagreeing. You may even disagree with him on that.”

{mosads}Wray last month disagreed with Attorney General William Barr’s use of the term “spying” to describe the bureau’s surveillance of Trump campaign advisers in 2016, telling lawmakers he would not use the same language.

“Well, that’s not the term I would use,” Wray said at a Senate hearing.

Trump at the time called Wray’s answer “ridiculous” and said Barr had described the situation “perfectly.”

The president on Monday said he “respectfully” disagreed with Wray, but did not elaborate on his performance as FBI chief.

The president recently gave Barr the authority to declassify information related to the origins of the federal investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Trump has long claimed the probe will show there was improper surveillance on his campaign, an assertion denied by intelligence and law enforcement officials.