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FBI Director Christopher Wray announced on Wednesday that he will resign in January before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
“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 bureau employees in remarks released by the FBI.
Trump, who is to be sworn in as president on January 20, has announced the nomination of staunch loyalist Kash Patel to replace Wray as the head of the top US law enforcement agency and he welcomed the FBI chief’s resignation.
Wray was named by Trump in 2017 to head the 38,000-strong Federal Bureau of Intelligence but the incoming president has since soured on his choice.
Wray had three more years remaining in his 10-year term as FBI director but faced potentially being fired by Trump.
“The resignation of Christopher Wray is a great day for America as it will end the Weaponization of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“Under the leadership of Christopher Wray, the FBI illegally raided my home, without cause, worked diligently on illegally impeaching and indicting me, and has done everything else to interfere with the success and future of America,” Trump said.
The FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in August 2022 to recover top secret documents taken without authorization from the White House.
Trump was indicted for mishandling classified documents and obstruction of justice but the case was dismissed by a Trump-appointed judge.
‘Above partisanship and politics’
Wray, in his remarks to the FBI workforce, said stepping down “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.”
“In terms of how we do the work, we’ve got to maintain our independence and objectivity — staying above partisanship and politics,” he said. “That’s what the American people expect of us and that’s what they deserve.”
Patel, a former Trump advisor and Pentagon official, has been critical of the FBI and is known for his controversial views.
A fierce defender of the incoming president, Patel supports the Republican hardliner notion of an anti-Trump “deep state” of allegedly biased government bureaucrats working to stifle Trump from behind the scenes, even having written a book on the subject.
A son of Indian immigrants, Patel served in several high-level posts during Trump’s first term including as a national security advisor and as chief of staff to the acting defense secretary.
Trump, in his Truth Social post, accused law enforcement officials of using “their vast powers to threaten and destroy many innocent Americans, some of which will never be able to recover from what has been done to them.”
“Kash Patel is the most qualified Nominee to lead the FBI in the Agency’s History, and is committed to helping ensure that Law, Order, and Justice will be brought back to our Country again, and soon,” he said.
“I look forward to Kash Patel’s confirmation, so that the process of Making the FBI Great Again can begin.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland praised Wray’s “principled leadership” of the FBI, saying he had served “honorably and with integrity.”
“The director of the FBI is responsible for protecting the independence of the FBI from inappropriate influence in its criminal investigations,” Garland said in a statement. “That independence is central to preserving the rule of law and to protecting the freedoms we as Americans hold dear.”
