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FBI Director Christopher Wray explained why he decided to step down “at such a dangerous time” with nearly three years left in his term, in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday.
“If this is such a dangerous time, why quit?” asked host Scott Pelley.
Wray, 58, had just described domestic terrorists as the greatest threat to the United States from Communist China’s ability to attack critical US infrastructure. Forward “New Orleans”. Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who was radicalized “not in years, but in weeks.”
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July 12, 2017 FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“My decision to quit the FBI was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” Ray replied.
The outgoing FBI chief said that while he cares deeply about the FBI and “our people,” his decision to step down after serving just seven years of a 10-year term was motivated by President-elect Donald Trump’s stated desire to change the bureau’s leadership . Ray announced that he was leaving his position in December.
“The president-elect has made it clear that he intends to make changes … my takeaway was that it’s best for the bureau to do it in an orderly manner. So as not to drag the bureau even deeper into the fray,” Ray said.
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Local law enforcement officers are seen in front of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida on August 9, 2022. (GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images)
Wray, a Yale Law graduate who joined the Justice Department in 1997, was appointed by Trump to lead the bureau in 2017 after he fired then-FBI Director James Comey.
Relations between Trump and Wray soured after the F.B.I raided Mar-a-Lago after the president-elect was accused of storing classified documents in his private residence.
“Our job at the FBI is to follow the facts wherever they lead, no matter who likes it,” Wray told 60 Minutes.
Wray further fueled tensions with Trump after he questioned whether he had actually been shot at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2023.
“As far as former President Trump is concerned, there is some doubt as to whether it was a bullet or shrapnel that entered his ear,” Wray told House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) at a hearing on the terror attack.
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President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
A spokesman for Trump’s campaign and the new White House communications director accused Wray of peddling “conspiratorial rhetoric” for “political reasons” in a statement to New York Post.
Trump nominated his longtime ally Kashyap “Cash” Patel to succeed Ray as bureau chief.
Patel, 44, who served on the National Security Council during Trump’s first term and wrote the book “Government Gangsters,” has been one of the president-elect’s most controversial picks.
Reagan’s former CIA chief, William H. Webster, 100, wrote to the senators with an appeal not to confirm Patelsaying his confirmation would set a “dangerous precedent”.
“Christopher Wray’s resignation is a great day for America because it has put an end to the weaponization of what has come to be known as the US Department of Injustice,” Trump said. posted on Truth Social after Ray announced his retirement in December 2024.
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During an interview with “60 Minutes”, Wray expressed the opinion that China is the biggest threat to the United States.
“The Chinese government believes that US civilian critical infrastructure is waiting for these networks to be able to wreak havoc and cause harm in the real world at a time and place of their choosing,” he said.
