Former President Donald Trump has been cleared of at least one of the many nuisance charges Democrats have thrown at him since he left office in 2020.
After a lengthy, four-year review, a Department of Justice watchdog has officially found that Trump did not improperly influence the FBI’s decision to keep its headquarters in Washington, D.C., instead of moving it to Virginia or Maryland, according to a DOJ report.
Talk of moving the FBI out of the famed J. Edgar Hoover Building in downtown D.C. started 20 years ago and in 2014, the bureau began seriously considering moving to new offices.
The initial plan was to turn the building over to a developer, which would then build a new office complex in whatever location the bureau ultimately chose for its new facility. The deal was labeled an “exchange procurement.”
But a problem arose with the plan. The General Services Administration eventually realized that the property in D.C. would not cover the cost of building a new facility, and the feds would be stuck paying the additional costs. So it was not going to end up being an “exchange” after all.
This determination sent the FBI to develop a new proposal. They wrote up a plan to raze the Hoover building and build their new facility right there on the same plot of land.
This is where the conspiracy theorists in the Democrat Party kicked into action.
Democrats began accusing Trump of meddling in the FBI’s plans to move to a suburban campus during a meeting in January of 2018 that included members of the GSA, the FBI and the Trump White House.
“He was directly involved with the decision to abandon the long-term relocation plan and instead move ahead [with the alternate plan],” the conspiracy theorists complained in an October 2018 letter to the GSA.
It wasn’t just that Democrats felt Trump was somehow “improperly” involved in the discussions on the FBI’s move, but they insisted that Trump meddled so he could make money.
“He should not have played any role in a determination that bears directly on his own financial interests with the Trump Hotel,” they wrote.
So, what evidence did the Oversight and Review Division of the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General find?
Zip, zero, nada.
In the division’s October report, they said they found nothing to substantiate the wild-eyed claims of the Democrat accusers.
“Specifically, we found no evidence that, in making the decision to seek to have the new FBI headquarters remain at its current JEH site, Director [Christopher] Wray or others at the FBI considered the location of the then-named Trump International Hotel or how then-President Trump’s financial interests could be impacted by the decision,” the report reads.
For his part, Wray said he didn’t think there was any pressure coming down from the White House on the matter.
“I did not feel pressured. I did not feel bullied,” Wray told the investigators. He added that Trump wasn’t really involved in the plans at all, and the decisions were not “driven by or based on … anything the President said or wanted.”
“There was no pressure to go in a particular direction. There was no requirement to stay in the current location. The Director concluded that the President had a topic that was in his element, he knows building. He was excited and engaged about the topic,” the report notes.
“There was nothing inappropriate or improper. The President said go forth and make plans,” the report concluded.
It’s just another example of how the Democrats have weaponized every segment of the federal establishment to attack, harass and wear Trump down to destroy him in mind, body and spirit, not to mention financially. Democrats don’t want him merely eliminated from ever running for office again, they want him utterly destroyed. And make no mistake, they also want this for every single one of his colleagues, supporters, and his “MAGA” voters.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
