JUDGE A MAN BY HIS ENEMIES:

Wray was chosen as Comey's replacement, ostensibly, to calm the waters: a head-down professional who would redirect the public focus to what the bureau was doing, rather than what was happening to it. But now, five years later, he has found himself personally targeted by MAGA world and his agents facing a surge of violent threats. If Republicans take control of the House after the midterms, his job will get even trickier.

On Aug. 8, FBI agents traveled to Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate and executed a search warrant. The former president's allies accused the FBI of turning the U.S. into a banana republic. Three days later, an armed man named Ricky Shiffer -- who was already on the FBI's radar for links to extremism, according to news reports -- tried to break into the bureau's Cincinnati field office. He fled. A stand-off ensued and police killed him.

That day, Wray sent an email to bureau employees saying their safety was his "primary concern right now." [...]

The aftermath of the Mar-a-Lago search warrant has presented a new set of highly sensitive challenges for Wray. But it's also landed him in a familiar place with now-familiar critics: House Republicans.

A House Republican aide told POLITICO that the conference views the FBI director as a big problem. The feeling flows from a broad view among Trump loyalists that Democratic partisans have weaponized law enforcement to target the right, while giving a pass to their allies. Wray runs the FBI, the aide added, which makes him -- along with Attorney General Merrick Garland -- a key focus of their grievances. If the House flips, Wray and the FBI will face further scrutiny and excoriation.

"He'll be a prime target," one House Republican aide told POLITICO.

That person said the Mar-a-Lago fallout is the biggest issue at the moment. But there are others. House Republicans are also angry that the FBI hasn't moved further in its probe of the president's son Hunter Biden. Another sleeper issue: The FBI's seizing of Rep. Scott Perry's phone. Perry, a Pennsylvania Republican linked to Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, heads the influential and very conservative House Freedom Caucus.

"You're going to see Republicans test this notion that the FBI doesn't have to talk about ongoing investigations," added the aide, who wasn't authorized to discuss the conference's plans on the record.

That test would create some political fireworks. In his 2017 confirmation hearing, Wray specifically said that he would follow DOJ policies "that govern public comments about uncharged individuals."

"I think those policies are there for a reason," he added at the time.

Should Wray refuse to divulge details in future hearings, the ball will be firmly in the House Republican leadership's court as to how to respond. Tension may be different in the Senate, however.

A Republican Senate aide said some members of the conference have specifically discussed the importance of not attacking Wray because of concerns about harming FBI agents' morale. The view is that supporting law enforcement means supporting all law enforcement -- including the FBI. And at the very least, that entails not lambasting Wray and the bureau for political points. Trump's vice president, Mike Pence, also called on Republicans last week to lay off the bureau.

Among many Senate Republicans, there's also a continued sense that Wray's approach to the job still stacks up well compared with how others might handle it. Another Republican Senate aide argued that House Republicans' long-term goals have a glaring hole: If they managed to tarnish Wray so badly that he quit or was fired, a Biden-nominated replacement wouldn't be much of a reprieve.

"We can imagine someone much worse being put in that position," the Senate aide said.

Tweet   @brothersjudd