Former FBI director Christopher Wray said he stepped down because it was clear President-elect Trump “intended to make a change” with the agency.
“My decision to retire from the FBI, I have to tell you, it was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” Wray said in an exit interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes.” “I care deeply, deeply about the FBI, about our mission, and in particular, about our people.”
“But the President-elect had made clear that he intended to make a change and the law is that that is something he’s able to do for any reason or no reason at all,” he continued.
Wray announced last month that he would be leaving his post as Trump appeared to have plans to fire him.
Trump nominated Kash Patel, a loyal ally, to lead the FBI, which was a signal to Wray that he would soon be fired. Patel would need to be confirmed by the Senate before taking the lead at the investigative bureau.
The president-elect nominated Wray to lead the agency in 2017 and he was supposed to serve until his term ended in 2027.
In the interview that aired Sunday, Wray shared more about his thinking behind resigning.
“My conclusion was that the thing that was best for the Bureau was to try to do this in an orderly way, to not thrust the FBI deeper into the fray,” he said.
Wray has been one of Trump’s enemies since the FBI secured a warrant to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate after he failed to return classified documents from his time as president.
After Wray announced he would resign, Trump celebrated the decision, calling it a “great day for America.”
Wray said he was accustomed to expressing opinions about him. As a lifelong conservative Republican, he said he is a “strict, by the book law enforcement professional” that takes threats against the FBI and its agents seriously.
“They tackle the job with a level of rigor and tenacity and professionalism and objectivity that I think is unparalleled, and I will tell you, it’s been the honor of a lifetime to serve with them,” he said.
Democrats expressed disappointment over Wray’s decision, arguing it allows Trump to speed up the agency’s transformation and get out of taking responsibility over potentially firing him.
Trump’s next pick in Patel is a controversial one and there’s concern about his comments about retribution for Trump’s enemies.
Wray said Sunday that he wasn’t going to weigh in on Trump’s Cabinet picks.
“Facts and the law drive investigations, not politics or partisan preferences,” he said of the FBI.
