8/27/2018

FBI/JEFF SESSIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump assembled a cadre of advisers in the Oval Office in January to discuss the FBI’s crumbling and outdated headquarters. His FBI head, chief of staff and budget director, and the government’s head of property management had just huddled and decided to rebuild — instead of relocating or renovating — the bureau’s central offices. Three months later, one of the meetings’ attendees avoided telling Congress about Trump’s involvement, the inspector general for the General Services Administration concluded Monday [8-27-18]. GSA Administrator Emily Murphy’s answers were ‘incomplete’ and may have been misleading, according to the IG report. The investigation had been requested by Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat who asked for a look into ‘the agency’s abrupt decision to abandon longstanding plans’ to relocate the FBI headquarters…The report does not conclude why Trump was personally interested in the project, especially considering his vitriolic rhetoric about the bureau and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. It also does not note the FBI building’s proximity to his DC hotel, which he leases from the GSA.”

Gregory Wallace, “GSA head silent on Trump’s role in FBI building decision, watchdog says,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, August 27, 2018 8:38 pm