FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday he is resigning and will depart before Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The move ensures that Wray, whom Trump has already said he will replace with loyalist Kash Patel, will make his exit before he can be fired.
Wray’s resignation comes seven years into his 10-year term and despite the fact it was Trump who first appointed him.
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The bureau’s director is intentionally given a long term with the idea it can span White House administrations and avoid politicization. However, it had become clear that Trump had no plans to keep Wray through 2027.
Wray made his resignation plans known during a town hall with FBI employees. The Washington Post reported that he called said the decision “difficult,” adding that he didn’t want to bow out but felt it was best for the bureau.
“It should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway—this is not easy for me,” he said. “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 was appointed by Trump in 2017. Wray took office shortly after Trump fired his predecessor, James B. Comey, over his probe into possible Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election.
The Senate overwhelmingly voted to confirm Wray, who received only five “no” votes, all from Democrats. He said during his confirmation hearing that he’d “never allow the FBI’s work to be driven by anything other than the facts, the law and the impartial pursuit of justice, period, full stop.”
Wray kept his word on that promise, with the bureau opening multiple probes into Trump once he left office. That publicly drew the ire of Trump and those in the MAGA world, and the president-elect made clear after his election win last month that Wray would soon be shown the door if he didn’t call it quits himself.
Taking to Truth Social to comment on the resignation, Trump called it a “great day” for America, before adding of Wray: “I just don’t know what happened to him.”
Trump then celebrated his controversial pick to overtake the role, Kash Patel, calling him “the most qualified Nominee to lead the FBI in the Agency’s History,” despite others suggesting otherwise.
Patel “is committed to helping ensure that Law, Order, and Justice will be brought back to our Country again, and soon,” Trump continued. “As everyone knows, I have great respect for the rank-and-file of the FBI, and they have great respect for me. They want to see these changes every bit as much as I do but, more importantly, the American People are demanding a strong, but fair, System of Justice. We want our FBI back, and that will now happen. I look forward to Kash Patel’s confirmation, so that the process of Making the FBI Great Again can begin.”
