AP/Andrew Harnik
FBI Director Christopher Wray.
- FBI Director Christopher Wray reportedly sent a motivational email to FBI employees.
- The message comes a day after Trump unleashed on the bureau's reputation, describing it as "in Tatters."
- "Keep calm and tackle hard," Wray wrote in the email.
FBI Director Christopher Wray sent a motivational email to the FBI's 35,000 employees on Monday, following President Donald Trump's tirade against the agency on Sunday, The New York Times reported.
Wray reportedly wrote that he was "inspired by example after example of professionalism and dedication to justice demonstrated around the bureau" and encouraged employees to "continue to keep focused on our critical mission."
"It is truly an honor to represent you," Wray said.
Although The Times notes that Wray did not specifically mention Trump in his email, it comes a day after Trump unleashed on the agency and its former director, James Comey, who testified in May that Trump asked him to drop the bureau's ongoing investigation into Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser.
"I never asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn. Just more Fake News covering another Comey lie!," Trump tweeted Sunday.
In a separate tweet, Trump portrayed the FBI as an embattled agency with a tarnished reputation: "After years of Comey, with the phony and dishonest Clinton investigation (and more), running the FBI, its reputation is in Tatters - worst in History! But fear not, we will bring it back to greatness," Trump tweeted.
Following his tweets, Thomas O'Connor, the president of the FBI Agents Association, released a statement saying that the bureau's agents "put their lives on the line" and that they performed their duties "with unwavering integrity and professionalism and a focus on complying with the
Trump, who fired Comey in May, has previously assailed the FBI under Comey's tenure, calling his replacement "someone who will do a far better job, bringing back the spirit and prestige of the FBI."
"We find ourselves under the microscope each and every day - and rightfully so. We do hard work for a living," Wray's email continued.
"Keep calm and tackle hard," the email concluded, according to The Times.