By Evan Perez and Holmes Lybrand for CNN
Chris Wrap will step down as FBI director before Donald Trump takes office, despite having still three years remaining on his 10-year term. Photo: AFP
FBI Director Chris Wray will resign at the end of the Biden administration, the agency says, as it becomes clear he would be forced out by President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump, who originally nominated Wray after firing the previous FBI director, previously announced he will nominate Kash Patel for the role, although Wray still had three years remaining on his 10-year term. Patel has been meeting with senators to build support for a confirmation vote next year.
Wray had wrestled with whether or not to resign given Trump's stated desire to replace him, sources say, and wants to facilitate an orderly transition. But some in the FBI worried his departure would normalise Trump's penchant for replacing FBI directors he doesn't like, as the position is supposed to straddle administrations and be insulated from politics.
Wray took the helm of the agency after Trump fired Director James Comey following investigations under his watch into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Wray took office after Comey, whose FBI also investigated Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server, left the bureau in May 2017.
As the incoming director, Wray was seen by many lawmakers as a solid choice to stabilise a rocky ship, but he ultimately suffered a similar fate as his predecessor, after he too oversaw an FBI that investigated Trump, probes resulting in two separate federal cases against the former president.
Trump, in particular, was unhappy with the FBI's court-approved search of his Mar-a-Lago resort in August 2022 during the investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Just this week, Trump said on NBC's Meet the Press, that he wasn't "thrilled" with Wray.
"He invaded my home," Trump said. "He invaded Mar-a-Lago."
Wray made his announcement at an FBI town hall.
"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. 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 prepared remarks from the FBI.
"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.
"It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway - this is not easy for me. I love this place, I love our mission, and I love our people - but my focus is, and always has been, on us and doing what's right for the FBI," Wray added.
"I look forward to a smooth transition. I will be ready to serve the American people on day one," Patel said in a statement Wednesday.
Kash Patel will succeed Wray as FBI director. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/AFP
Appointed by Trump but relationship soured
When Trump first chose Wray to lead the FBI in 2017, the two were on good terms. At the time, Trump said Wray would "serve his country as a fierce guardian of the law and model of integrity".
Wray did seek to avoid turbulence with the White House and other lawmakers, giving detailed briefings on Capitol Hill and making reforms to the bureau in response to missteps in the Trump-Russia probe.
Still, the relationship quickly soured, and Trump's disdain for Wray came out in public tweets and interviews where he bashed the FBI director for his hesitancy to make public documents related to the Russia investigation as well as his congressional testimony that Russia was working to interfere in the 2020 elections and that there was no evidence of coordinated national voter fraud.
The rift became even more apparent after Trump left the White House in 2021 and began to attack both Wray and the bureau as carrying out investigations for political reasons.
Following his election victory last month, Trump promised to get rid of Wray and replace him with Patel, a Trump loyalist and MAGA firebrand who has vowed to root out what he has referred to as the "Deep State" and re-focus the law enforcement agency's mission.
Wray's FBI also conducted the largest investigation in its long history in response to the 6 January 2021 US Capitol attack - leading to the arrest of over 1500 people accused of breaking the law that day.
During his address Wednesday, Wray insisted that the FBI cannot change its "commitment to doing the right thing, the right way, every time".
"That's the real strength of the FBI - the importance of our mission, the quality of our people, and their dedication to service over self. It's an unshakeable foundation that's stood the test of time," Wray said, "and cannot be easily moved.
"And it - you, the men and women of the FBI - are why the Bureau will endure and remain successful long into the future."
- CNN
