Director Chris Wray to resign

12/12/2024 6:11

FBI Director Chris Wray

will step down from his post early next year, the bureau said on

Wednesday, after Republican President-elect Donald Trump

signaled his intent to fire the veteran official and replace him

with firebrand Kash Patel.



Trump himself had appointed Wray, a fellow Republican, to

his 10-year term in 2017, after firing his predecessor James

Comey, who the then-president soured on over the FBI's

investigations into alleged contacts between his 2016 campaign

and Russia.



"After weeks of careful thought, I’ve decided the right

thing for the Bureau is for me to serve until the end of the

current Administration in January and then step down," Wray told

FBI employees today, the agency said in a statement.



In a statement to Reuters, Patel said he looks forward to a

"smooth transition."



"I will be ready to serve the American people on day one,"

he said.



Trump and his hardline allies turned on Wray, and the FBI

more generally, after agents conducted a court-approved search

of Trump's Florida resort in 2022 to recover classified

documents that he had retained after leaving office.



That sparked one of two federal prosecutions Trump faced

while out of power, neither of which went to trial. Trump denied

wrongdoing and described all the cases against him as

politically motivated. Federal prosecutors ended their efforts

after his election, citing longstanding Justice Department

policy not to prosecute a sitting president.



Trump's Republican allies joined him in alleging that the

FBI had become politicized, though there is no evidence that

Democratic President Joe Biden interfered with its investigative

processes.



"There are serious problems at the FBI. The American public

knows it. They expect to see sweeping change," Republican U.S.

Senator Bill Hagerty said in early December after Trump's

nomination of Patel.



Throughout his term, Wray said that he followed the law and

strove to impartially carry out the FBI's duties. During a 2023

hearing before a House of Representatives panel he rebuffed the

idea that he was pursuing a Democratic partisan agenda, noting

that he had been a lifelong Republican.



"The idea that I am biased against conservatives seems

somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background," Wray

said.



FBI directors are appointed for 10-year terms, a measure

meant to avoid the appearance of partisanship after political

turnover in the White House every four years.



Wray's term was not due to expire until 2027.



As he has built out his roster of Cabinet officials over the

past few weeks, Trump has assembled a team ready to carry out

two of his biggest priorities: retribution against his political

adversaries and a wholesale reshaping of the U.S. government.



Patel, who would need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate,

has never worked at the FBI and only spent three years at the

Justice Department earlier in his career in the National

Security Division's Counterterrorism Section. If confirmed, he

has pledged to shut down the FBI's headquarters building in

Washington and drastically redefine the bureau's role with

intelligence-gathering.



Throughout Trump's first term, Trump repeatedly mused about

the idea of replacing Wray for not being forceful enough in

defending him from the 2016 investigation, but former Attorney

General Bill Barr resisted such efforts, Barr recounted in his

book "One Damn Thing After Another."



Wray, in his address to employees on Wednesday, urged them

to continue to focus on their mission to keep Americans safe.



"My goal is to keep the focus on  our mission — the

indispensable work you’re doing on behalf of the American people

every day," Wray said, according to excerpts provided by the

bureau.



"In my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the

bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and

principles that are so important to how we do our work."







FISA WARRANTS, JAN. 6 PROBES



The FBI has faced increasing criticism by Trump's supporters

for its various roles in investigating Trump over the years.



Some of the concerns pre-dated Wray's tenure, including

several damning reports by the Justice Department's inspector

general which faulted the bureau for making numerous errors in

its warrant applications to the Foreign Intelligence

Surveillance Court during its early investigation into Trump's

2016 campaign known as "Crossfire Hurricane."



During his tenure, Wray has overseen reforms of the FBI's

processes for securing FISA warrants.



The FBI during Wray's time has also played a major role in

helping to investigate and arrest many of Trump's supporters who

stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a failed bid to block

Congress from certifying Biden's election victory.



More than 1,500 people were criminally charged in the

attack.



Trump has pledged to grant clemency to some of the Jan. 6

defendants, though he has not provided details.



Throughout his time as FBI director, Wray has been known for

his hawkish views on China, and has frequently warned that China

represents the biggest national and economic security threat

facing the United States.



Wray started his career at the Justice Department in 1997 as

a federal prosecutor in the Atlanta-based Northern District of

Georgia.



He was nominated by President George W. Bush in 2003 to lead

the department's Criminal Division, where he oversaw a variety

of investigations including post-9/11 efforts to combat

terrorism and the Enron Task Force.



Wray also practiced law for about 17 years with the law firm

King & Spalding, and he clerked for former Judge J. Michael

Luttig in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit after

earning his law degree from Yale Law School.