Christopher Wray has decided to leave ahead of Donald Trump\u2019s inauguration<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FBI Director Christopher Wray has announced he will be stepping down from the job, after US President-elect Donald Trump said he wanted to replace him with Kash Patel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wray made the announcement at an all-staff town hall on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The decision to resign was \u201cnot easy,\u201d Wray said, adding that he chose to do so to \u201cavoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray\u201d and \u201ckeep the focus on our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump nominated Wray in 2017, after sacking then-director James Comey over the \u2018Russiagate\u2019 scandal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wray\u2019s resignation comes two days after Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, wrote an 11-page letter accusing him of mismanagement and \u201cfailure to take control of the FBI.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this month, Trump \u2013 elected to a second term in November \u2013 nominated Patel to head the bureau in the next administration. Democrats have opposed the move, arguing that Wray still had several years left in his tenure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
FBI directors can serve up to ten years under a law passed by Congress after the bureau\u2019s founding head, J. Edgar Hoover, passed away. Hoover was in charge of the FBI and its predecessor for a total of 48 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although Wray was a registered Republican and a Trump appointee, the incoming president criticized his subservience to the Biden administration over the past four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe invaded my home,\u201d Trump said in an interview with NBC\u2019s Meet the Press, referring to the 2022 FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI can\u2019t say I\u2019m thrilled\u201d about the FBI, Trump added, citing Wray\u2019s testimony in Congress that his ear had been struck by shrapnel instead of an assassin\u2019s bullet this past July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe 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,\u201c Trump said on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnder 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. They have used 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,\u201d the president-elect added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n