FBI director smacks down Trump’s promise to have DOJ probe political rivals: report

Former President Donald Trump last year said that if he's elected a second time, he will order the Department of Justice to investigate his political rivals.

In an exclusive Tuesday interview with NBC News, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray — who was appointed by Trump — smacked down Trump's order, saying that he will ensure officials follow protocol no matter what.

Wray told NBC's Lester Holt "that, as long as he is FBI director, he is 'going to make sure … we do the right thing in the right way."

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He continued, "And that means following the law, following our rules, staying faithful to our core values, enforcing the law without fear or favor."

Following Trump's November declaration that he'd probe his rivals, CBS News reported:

NMás journalist and CBS News contributor Enrique Acevedo asked Trump: 'You say they've weaponized the Justice Department, they weaponized the FBI. Would you do the same if you're reelected?'

'Well, he's unleashed something that everybody, we've all known about this for a hundred years," Trump said, apparently in reference to President Biden and his administration. "We've watched other countries do it and, in some cases, effective and in other cases, the country's overthrown or it's been totally ineffective. But we've watched this for a long time, and it's not unique, but it's unique for the United States. Yeah. If they do this and they've already done it, but if they want to follow through on this, yeah, it could certainly happen in reverse. It could certainly happen in reverse. What they've done is they've released the genie out of the box.'

Per NBC, "FBI rules prohibit agents from opening an investigation without evidence of criminality, and Justice Department rules say agents may never make a decision regarding an investigation or prosecution for the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party."

In an effort to argue the former president's immunity from federal prosecution amid his four indictments, Trump lawyer John Sauer suggested during oral arguments before the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in January, that a US president "could order the assassination of his political rival and not ever face prosecution unless the House successfully impeached him and the Senate convicted him for that crime."

READ MORE: Former military leaders would 'refuse' Trump order to kill political rivals: SCOTUS amicus brief

Last month, three former top military officials responded to that statement by filing a brief with the US Supreme Court, submitting "that even if a president ordered the military to assassinate a rival, the military would refuse to do it."

NBC News' full report is available here.