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The Wall Street Journal: Emails Appear at Odds With White House Statement on FBI Relocation Costs

November 2, 2018
In the News

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New documents suggest the Trump administration was aware that its decision to keep the FBI headquarters in downtown Washington, D.C., would cost more than a competing proposal to relocate to the suburbs, contradicting public assertions from the White House that it wanted to save taxpayers money.

A newly released email exchange shows that Andrew Abrams, deputy associate director of the White House's Office of Management and Budget, attempting to prepare Emily Murphy, chief of the General Services Administration, for testimony before Congress about the FBI headquarters.

In the email, Mr. Abrams says the toughest question Ms. Murphy could receive is, "How is this a good deal for taxpayers?" The email doesn't dispute that the proposal to keep the facility in Washington would cost more and be less secure than relocating to the suburbs in Virginia or Maryland.

The internal email traffic contrasts with a statement from White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, who told CNN in October, "The president wanted to save the government money."

The email exchange was obtained by Democrats in Congress and released Friday as part of a letter to the White House demanding more information on the decision, which was made with President Trump's input. Reps. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, Peter DeFazio of Oregon, Gerry Connolly of Virginia, Mike Quigley of Illinois and Dina Titus of Nevada wrote in the letter that "the White House should not be issuing false claims to justify or conceal President Trump's conflicts of interest on this matter."

The White House and the GSA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The new disclosure is the latest dispute in a running fight over the location of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's headquarters. The Bureau is housed at the aging J. Edgar Hoover building in downtown Washington, but the edifice, which is more than 40 years old, is deteriorating and can no longer accommodate all the FBI's Washington workforce. As a result, many FBI employees are scattered around the city in other office space.

The government decided to relocate the FBI to a suburban location in 2014, selecting several sites in Virginia and Maryland as finalists for a new building. Last year, the Trump administration reversed course and announced it was scrapping the plan and would instead redevelop the current site. FBI officials said they had concluded it would be better to keep their headquarters close to the main Justice Department building.

Mr. Trump operates a hotel across the street from the current FBI headquarters, although day-to-day management is being handled by his sons. Democrats on Capitol Hill allege that any private redevelopment of the FBI headquarters site could affect Mr. Trump's bottom line, saying he should recuse himself from decisions involving federal real estate near the hotel.

GSA's internal watchdog found that Ms. Murphy gave testimony to Congress in April that didn't disclose the involvement of Mr. Trump or other White House officials in the decision, despite repeated questioning from a Democratic member of Congress about whether anyone at the White House had participated.

The inspector general concluded that her statements to Congress were "literally true," but it found that "Murphy's congressional testimony was incomplete and may have left the misleading impression that she had no discussions with White House officials in the decision-making process about the project."

Ms. Murphy has denied misleading Congress.

Two of the Democrats who signed Friday's letter—Messrs. Cummings and Connolly—represent areas of Maryland and Virginia that could benefit from the presence of a major new federal building housing a large workforce. None of the finalist sites chosen in 2014 were in districts represented by the two lawmakers.

Democrats are expected to make the FBI headquarters, and other alleged conflicts of interest, a major focus of oversight of the Trump administration if the party takes control of one or both chambers of Congress after next week's midterm elections, according to interviews with lawmakers and staff.

Mr. Cummings is in line to chair the Oversight and Government Reform Committee if Democrats win a majority, giving him control of Capitol Hill's only full-time investigative committee charged with ferreting out waste, fraud and abuse.

Issues:Government Transparency