28 Sep 2017 6:02 pm
Tainted Trump First President in History to Skip FBI Director Swearing-In
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There were three notable absences at the swearing-in ceremony of Christopher Wray as the new director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday.
By tradition, such a ceremony is attended by the president and all past FBI directors. (The living ones, anyway — there has never been a sighting of Zombie J. Edgar Hoover at an FBI director's swearing-in.)
For Wray's installation, however, his predecessor, James Comey, skipped the ceremony.
Understandable, given his unceremonious firing.
Robert Mueller, the former FBI director now serving as the special counsel leading the investigation into Donald Trump's Russia ties, also skipped out, likely because he just has too many subpoenas for White House officials he has to get written.
Or possibly because he doesn't want to have to tell the president that he has been getting his mash notes.
And Trump himself became the first president in history to skip a swearing-in, presumably because he doesn't want to get friendly with any FBI directors he may later choose to fire if they refuse to pull the plug on the Russia investigation.
Or maybe he is not yet ready to make up with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Wray's direct boss, who was on hand and, if his appearance on Fox News this week was any indication, very eager to get back in Trump's good graces.
It's too bad.
Imagine the awkward meetings next to tables loaded down with canapés.
The president, the FBI director he fired, the former FBI director investigating him for possible financial and obstruction of justice crimes, and the attorney general he's still angry with for not stopping all of this in its tracks.
It's like an Edward Albee play rewritten by Aaron Sorkin.
.
There were three notable absences at the swearing-in ceremony of Christopher Wray as the new director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday.
By tradition, such a ceremony is attended by the president and all past FBI directors. (The living ones, anyway — there has never been a sighting of Zombie J. Edgar Hoover at an FBI director's swearing-in.)
For Wray's installation, however, his predecessor, James Comey, skipped the ceremony.
Understandable, given his unceremonious firing.
Robert Mueller, the former FBI director now serving as the special counsel leading the investigation into Donald Trump's Russia ties, also skipped out, likely because he just has too many subpoenas for White House officials he has to get written.
Or possibly because he doesn't want to have to tell the president that he has been getting his mash notes.
And Trump himself became the first president in history to skip a swearing-in, presumably because he doesn't want to get friendly with any FBI directors he may later choose to fire if they refuse to pull the plug on the Russia investigation.
Or maybe he is not yet ready to make up with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Wray's direct boss, who was on hand and, if his appearance on Fox News this week was any indication, very eager to get back in Trump's good graces.
It's too bad.
Imagine the awkward meetings next to tables loaded down with canapés.
The president, the FBI director he fired, the former FBI director investigating him for possible financial and obstruction of justice crimes, and the attorney general he's still angry with for not stopping all of this in its tracks.
It's like an Edward Albee play rewritten by Aaron Sorkin.