FBI Director Christopher A Wray announced on Wednesday that he will resign before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, despite having three years remaining on his 10-year term, CNN reported.
Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony is scheduled to take place on January 20, 2025, at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
Wray made his announcement at a town hall in FBI headquarters in Washington, DC.
“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.
“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,” he added.
The decision comes after Trump expressed his intention to replace Wray with Kash Patel.
Wray’s tenure as FBI director has been marked by significant investigations into Trump, including the search of the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022 for classified documents.
Trump responded to Wray’s announcement by calling it “a great day for America.”
In a Truth Social post, Trump said Wray’s resignation “is a great day for America as it will end the Weaponization of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice. I just don’t know what happened to him. We will now restore the Rule of Law for all Americans.”
Patel also responded to Wray’s announcement and stated, “I look forward to a smooth transition. I will be ready to serve the American people on day one.”
According to CNN, 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 was appointed as FBI director in 2017 after Trump fired James Comey, who had overseen investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 US elections. Wray took office following Comey’s dismissal, whose FBI also investigated Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, left the bureau in May 2017.
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.
“He invaded my home,” Trump said. “He invaded Mar-a-Lago.”