WASHINGTON — FBI Director Christopher Wray told bureau employees Wednesday that he plans to resign when President Joe Biden’s term ends in January, an announcement that came a week and a half after President-elect Donald Trump said he would nominate loyalist Kash Patel for president. the work.
What you need to know
- FBI Director Christopher Wray says he plans to resign when President Joe Biden’s term ends in January.
- Wednesday’s announcement comes a week and a half after President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate loyalist Kash Patel to the post.
- In a public meeting with office staff, Wray said he would resign “after weeks of careful consideration.”
- Wray was previously appointed by Trump and began his 10-year term – a term intended to protect the agency from the political influence of changing administrations – in 2017, after Trump fired then-FBI director James Comey.
Wray told a public meeting that he would resign “after weeks of careful consideration”, three years before the end of a 10-year term marked by high-profile and politically charged investigations, including the one that led to two separate charges. by Trump last year.
Wray’s planned resignation is not unexpected given that Trump had chosen Patel as his director and had repeatedly expressed anger at Wray, including in a television interview that aired Sunday. By resigning rather than waiting to be fired, Wray is trying to avoid a collision with the new Trump administration that he said would have dragged the FBI “deeper into the fray.”
“My goal is to remain focused on our mission, the essential work you do every day on behalf of the American people,” Wray told agency employees. “In my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the Bureau deeper into the fray, while also reinforcing the values and principles that are so important in how we do our work.”
Wray was appointed to the post by Trump and began his 10-year tenure — a term intended to protect the agency from the political influence of changing administrations — in 2017, after Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey , amid an investigation into Russian ties. and the Republican president’s campaign.
Trump had telegraphed his anger at Wray on several occasions.
On its Truth Social platform WednesdayTrump said Wray’s resignation marked “a great day for America because it would end the militarization of what is now known as the United States Department of Injustice.”
“Under the leadership of Christopher Wray, the FBI illegally raided my home without cause, worked diligently to illegally impeach and indict me, and did everything in its power to interfere with America’s success and future.” , wrote the president-elect. “They used their vast powers to threaten and destroy many innocent Americans, some of whom will never recover from what was done to them.”
But the soft-spoken Wray rarely seemed to go out of his way to publicly confront the Trump White House.
In fact, Wray was quick to distance himself and his management team from the FBI’s Russia investigation.
On the same day as a highly critical inspector general report on that investigation, Wray announced more than 40 corrective actions to the FBI’s process for seeking warrants for secret national security surveillance. He said mistakes made in the Russia investigation were unacceptable and he helped strengthen controls on investigations into candidates for federal office.
FBI officials actively announced these changes to make clear that Wray’s leadership had ushered in a different era within the bureau.
Even then, Wray’s criticism of the investigation was sometimes measured — he disagreed, for example, with calling Trump a “witch hunt” — and there were other cases, particularly in response to specific questions, where he remembered breaking with the White House.
Last December, he said there was “no indication” that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, contradicting frequent rhetoric during the Trump era. When the Trump White House approved the declassification of documents related to surveillance of a former Trump campaign aide, Wray made his displeasure known.
Wray angered Trump for saying antifa was a movement and an ideology but not an organization. Trump had said he wanted to designate the group as a terrorist organization.
Wray detailed Russian efforts to intervene in the 2020 election that Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden, even though Trump and senior officials in his administration, including his attorney general and national security adviser, have argued that China posed the most assertive threat. Wray also said the FBI had not seen evidence of widespread voter fraud, a claim Trump has repeatedly insisted.
Before being named FBI director, Wray worked at a prestigious law firm, King & Spalding, where he represented former Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., during the “Bridgegate” affair. He also headed the Justice Department’s criminal division for a time during the administration of President George W. Bush.