FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed why he decided to resign “during such a dangerous time” and with nearly three years left in his tenure during an interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes” Sunday.
“If it’s such a dangerous time, why resign?” host Scott Pelley asked.
Wray, 58, had just outlined domestic terrorists as the biggest threat to the United States from Communist China’s ability to attack critical American infrastructure New Orleans forward Shamsud-Din Jabbar who radicalized “not in years, but in weeks”.
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FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 12, 2017. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“My decision yes retire from the FBI was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” Wray replied.
The outgoing FBI chief said that while he cares deeply about the FBI and “our people,” his decision to leave after serving just seven years of his 10-year tenure was motivated by President-elect Donald Trump’s desire to change leadership at the desk. Wray announced that he is leaving his post in December.
“The president-elect has made it clear that he intends to make a change … my conclusion was that it was best for the office to do it in an orderly manner. Not to push the office further into the fray,” Wray said.
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Local law enforcement officers are seen outside 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 School graduate who joined the DOJ in 1997, was nominated by Trump in 2017 to lead the office after firing then-FBI Director James Comey.
Trump and Wray’s relationship, meanwhile, soured after the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago after the president-elect was accused of possessing 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 inflamed tensions with Trump after he questioned whether he had actually been shot at a July 2023 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“With regard to former President Trump, the question is whether a bullet or shrapnel hit his ear,” Wray told Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) at a hearing on the 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 Trump campaign spokesman and new White House communications director criticized Wray at the time for peddling “conspiracy fiction” for “political reasons” in a statement New York Post.
Trump nominated his longtime ally Kashyap “Kash” Patel to succeed Wray as chief of staff.
Patel, 44, who served on the National Security Council during Trump’s first term and authored the book “Government Gangsters,” was one of the president-elect’s more controversial choices.
Former Reagan CIA chief William H. Webster, 100, wrote to senators urging them not to confirm Patelsaying his confirmation would set a “dangerous precedent”.
“The resignation of Christopher Wray is a great day for America because it will end the weaponization of what has become known as the Department of Injustice of the United States,” Trump posted on Truth Social after Wray announced his resignation in December 2024.
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During his interview with “60 Minutes,” Wray expressed his opinion that China is the greatest threat to the United States.
“The Chinese government is ambushing American civilian critical infrastructure on these networks to be in a position to wreak havoc and inflict real-world damage at a time and place of its choosing,” he said.
