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Trump refuses to say if he has confidence in FBI director

. President Donald Trump speaks while meeting with President of the Republic of Chile, Sebastian Pinera during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on September 28.
President Trump. Photo: Andrew Harrer - Pool/Getty Images

President Trump wouldn't say during an interview with The Hill Monday if he has confidence in FBI Director Christopher Wray, stressing he disagrees with him over his administration's claims its agents spied on his 2016 campaign.

QuoteWell, we’ll see how it turns out."
— President Trump's response to a question on his level of confidence in Wray

The big picture: During his interview with The Hill, Trump made clear he disagreed with Wray telling Congress in May he would not describe FBI investigations as "spying." Wray made the comment in response to a question about Attorney General Bill Barr's assertion that law enforcement officials "spied" on the 2016 Trump campaign.

"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."
— President Trump to The Hill

Why it matters: Trump has a history of issues with the FBI. In 2017, he fired then-FBI director James Comey. He publicly criticized then-acting director Andrew McCabe, who was later fired by Trump's first attorney general, Jeff Sessions. The president has also criticized on several occasions former FBI agent Peter Strzok and ex-FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who exchanged anti-Trump text messages during the 2016 campaign.

Christopher A. Wray