#Trump urges FBI Director Wray to be more ‘forthcoming’ about Russia probe

President Trump sidestepped a question about whether FBI Director Christopher Wray should step down over the bureau’s role in the “Russian collusion” investigation but hoped he would be “forthcoming” about providing documents sought by the Senate as part of its examination of the origins of the probe.

Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo asked the president if Wray should resign after documents revealed FBI officials misled the Senate about the veracity of the Steele dossier.

“So Christopher Wray was put there. We have an election coming up,” Trump responded in the Thursday interview. “I wish he was more forthcoming. He certainly hasn’t been. There are documents they want to get and that we have said we want to get. We’re going to find out if he’s going to give those documents.”

Trump nominated Wray in June 2017 to replace James Comey, whom he fired the month before.

“He’s been very, very protective. He was put there for good reason,” Trump continued. “He was chosen by a certain person, and I said go ahead, put whoever you want. I’m so honest that I said you can put anybody you want. Let’s see how Wray turns out. He’s going to either turn out one way or the other.”

GOP Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina are seeking documents from the FBI as the committees they head probe the beginnings of the “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation into “Russian collusion” during the 2016 election.

Graham said recently disclosed documents show the FBI misled senators about the validity of the dossier, compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.

Some information contained in the dossier was used to get Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrants for former Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

Attorney General William Barr has also named a federal prosecutor in Connecticut to investigate the origin of the Russia investigation, and Trump urged Barr to take aggressive action once the report is released.

“I hope they’re not going to be politically correct and say, ‘let’s get the lower guys that forged the documents going into FISA. Let’s just get a couple of the lower guys,’” Trump said. “Bill Barr can go down as the greatest attorney general in the history of our country, or he can go down as just an average guy. It depends on what’s going to happen.”