WASHINGTON — The battle over who gets the new FBI Headquarters might not be over yet. There are new accusations being made about the decision to build it in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The decision was announced Wednesday night. The federal government picked Greenbelt over two other locations – one in Springfield, Virginia and the other in Landover, Maryland.
Now, we're learning more about a possible conflict of interest, and it involves a current member of DC Mayor Muriel Bowser's administration.
Here's why this matters:
- The new FBI Headquarters is expected to bring about 2,000 jobs to the area. Also, the more than 7,000 FBI employees at the current headquarters in D.C. will move to the new location.
- Officials estimate more than $4 billion in economic activity as a result of the new location.
- Leaders in Prince George's County say more federal money and projects over the years have gone to Fairfax County, and they feel this decision helps them get their fair share of federal government investments.
WUSA9 has obtained the Site Selection Decision report produced by the U.S. General Services Administration, and it's prompting some to call foul.
The governor of Virginia, both senators, and a bipartisan group of congressional representatives are demanding the decision should be immediately overturned.
An unprecedented letter was sent Thursday morning from FBI Director Christopher Wray to all FBI employees. In the letter, Wray highlights concerns about "fairness and transparency" in the process that ultimately awarded the new headquarters project to Prince George's County.
"I know Chris Wray. I was pretty shocked to see him make that claim," Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia) said.
There was a three-person panel made up of two people from the GSA and one from the FBI who were in charge of deciding where the new FBI Headquarters should go.
"You had a three-member panel empowered to analyze the sites under the revised criteria and they unanimously recommended Virginia. It should go to Virginia. Period. It should go to Virginia," Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) said.
Instead, a political appointee from GSA named Nina Albert – who's now with Mayor Bowser's administration – she overruled the three-person panel, and the FBI Headquarters was awarded to Greenbelt instead.
GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan, a Biden appointee, released a statement on Thursday in response to the FBI director's letter.
"Any suggestion that there was inappropriate interference is unfounded. The choice of Greenbelt, Maryland, is fully consistent with the decision-making process as well as all laws, regulations, and ethical considerations. We stand behind the process, the decision, and all of the public servants who carefully followed the process and made a good decision on behalf of the FBI and the public."
Sen. Warner was not impressed.
"This is the kind of behavior I would have expected from the Trump administration. I expected better from this administration," Warner said.
Sen. Kaine said the person who went against the panel's recommendation to move to Springfield, Virginia was a GSA executive who used to work for WMATA.
On top of our sources, we also looked into Albert's resume.
Before heading to D.C. government, Albert was the Commissioner of the Public Buildings Service at GSA. She was quoted in July for getting feedback from Maryland and Virginia delegates about selecting the new site for the FBI headquarters.
Before GSA, Albert was the VP of Real Estate and Parking at WMATA. There are questions of conflict of interest since Metro owns the Greenbelt site.
Albert replaced former Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio, who is facing sexual harassment allegations.
We caught up with Mayor Bowser if she may have any concerns.
"Director Albert is the commissioner for public buildings for the Biden administration so that was her job then and I'm sure she advanced the priorities of the administration. So any questions that the senators have should direct it to the appropriate place," said Jeff McKay, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair. "I could have never dreamed that at the end of this what we would be talking about is how a person per the FBI director basically made this decision as a conflict of interest. Now we have to ask ourselves if the process was even right. It's incredible."
Of course – we also have to talk about how leaders in Maryland are reacting to all of this.
The headline from that side of the Potomac is "bring it on." Equity of economic opportunity is a theme on the Maryland side of the river.
Here is how Angela Alsobrooks, the county executive who is running for U.S. Senate, reacted to the pushback from Wray and Virginia Leaders:
"You look at the investment, the federal we're talking about Northern Virginia in Fairfax area, which has already received over the last 15 years $460 billion worth of federal dollars in investment," Alsobrooks said. "Prince George's County has received $120 billion, so they've received more than three times the amount of investment which has allowed them to become one of the wealthiest communities in the United States of America. So people don't give over those kinds of opportunities quite easily. They are fighting for their residents and I'm fighting for mine."
Maryland leaders continue pounding on familiar themes: the Greenbelt site is cheaper by a half billion or more, better oriented to public transit, and ready to build now.
Maryland leaders acknowledge that the GSA's decision does not end this. Its all about funding in Congress now with a lot of politics involved. But they are convinced here that Maryland has momentum now on its side.
Gov. Wes Moore is expected to address the FBI HQ in a press conference Friday morning at 9 a.m.