Published On 11 Dec 2024
The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Christopher Wray, will resign from his position before the second term of United States President-elect Donald Trump, according to the agency.
In a statement to staff released by the agency on Wednesday, Wray cited a desire to keep the agency out of a prolonged dispute with the incoming president, who takes office on January 20.
Wray has been a top target of Trump in recent years, with the former president citing the FBI’s involvement in several investigations into his conduct. That included an August 2022 execution of a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in which agents gathered evidence for an eventual federal indictment related to hoarding classified White House documents.
The resignation will pave the way for Kash Patel, Trump’s controversial pick to take over the agency, although his appointment will still require Senate confirmation. Trump had already all but confirmed his plans to fire Wray, whose 10-year appointment in the role was not set to end until 2027.
“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 said in his statement.
“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.”
Trump nominated Patel, who had previously served as a national security aide and has remained an entrenched ally of the former president, earlier this month.
Trump called him a “brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People”.
But the appointment sparked concerns, including from within Trump’s own Republican Party, about Patel’s fitness for the role.
The firebrand has regularly issued blatant threats to prosecute political opponents and investigators who have probed Trump and has pledged to purge the FBI of the so-called “deep state” – a conspiracy phrase referring to the belief that secret networks of power are embedded within the government.
He has also promised to shut down the agency’s Washington, DC headquarters.
Legal observers have warned the agency could lose its independence under Patel, instead becoming an arm of the Trump White House.