Calling for the “European standard” for public accountability, former federal prosecutor Joseph diGenova on Wednesday said FBI Director Christopher Wray should step down following last week’s fatal school shooting in Florida.
DiGenova, who served as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia under President Ronald Reagan, noted on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that the culture in European democracies is for public officials in high office to resign after a big screw-up.
The shooting, said diGenova (pictured above right), reflects a “failure at every level of law enforcement.” He added that Wray (pictured above left) owes the American people a public accounting — in person, not through a written statement — of his agency’s failures in the weeks before a former student shot 17 people to death at a school in Broward County.
“You will wait until hell freezes over before he does it,” diGenova said. “Christopher Wray should be fired. This is an embarrassment. It happened on his watch. We need to adopt the European standard for resignation.”
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Florida Gov. Rick Scott also has called for Wray’s scalp amid revelations that the agency ignored a January 5 tip that Nikolas Cruz planned to shoot up Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Wray has issued a statement promising to review the lapse. But diGenova said it is doubtful that he does not have all the facts by now.
Related: ‘Something Has to Happen’ After Florida School Shooting, Lawmakers Say
“The guy has nothing internally that makes him understand what the bureau is about and what his duties to the American people are,” he said.
DiGenova applauded the activism of Florida students who have called for gun control after the February 14 shooting.
“However, this is not about that,” he said “These 17 young people would be alive today if a bunch of adults had done their jobs. And the fact is, they didn’t.”
PoliZette senior writer Brendan Kirby can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter.
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