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| FBI's Christopher Wray resigns (WBAL) |
Christopher Wray has announced that he will step down as FBI director at the end of the Biden presidency in January, a move apparently driven by Wray's refusal to be a lap dog for President-Elect Donald Trump, according to a report at The New York Times. That Wray was appointed by a Republican (Trump) and will serve until the end of a Democrat's term suggests he was an effective director. That Trump wants to replace him with Kash Patel, a deeply flawed loyalist, indicates this will mark the weakening of another American institution on Trump's watch. From a piece by The Times' Adam Goldman and Devlin Barrett:
The F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, says he intends to resign before the Trump administration takes office, bowing to the reality that President-elect Donald J. Trump had publicly declared his desire to replace him.
Mr. Wray announced the move while addressing employees in remarks that tacitly acknowledged the politically charged position the F.B.I. now faces with an incoming president who openly scorns the agency.
“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,” Mr. Wray said, adding, “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.”
The director spoke wistfully about his time at the F.B.I. “This is not easy for me,” he said, addressing a packed conference room at F.B.I. headquarters, as many more watched on video feeds at F.B.I. offices around the country. “I love this place, I love our mission and I love our people.” He left the room to a standing ovation, and some shed tears as Mr. Wray shook employees’ hands on the way out, according to an F.B.I. official.
The announcement comes after Mr. Trump said in late November that he intended to nominate Kash Patel, a longtime loyalist, to run the F.B.I., and more than two years before Mr. Wray’s 10-year term would have expired.
Patel has published his own enemies list, which suggests he knows little about U.S. law, much like his soon-to-be boss. That Patel openly suggests he will bring prosecutions based on his personal grievances, indicates he is not aware U.S. law requires that criminal actions be brought against defendants based only on a finding of probable cause, not on personal grievances. Patel has made a special point to note his desire to "go after" the media, although it is unclear what "crimes" journalists routinely commit, especially given that much of their work is protected by the First Amendment or associated court cases, such as Near v. Minnesota.
Trump's decision to force out Christopher Wray in favor of Kash Patel indicates the president-elect values personal loyalty over the public's interest in effective law enforcement. Write Goldman and Barrett:
Over more than seven years, Mr. Wray oversaw one of the most consequential and tumultuous periods in the bureau’s history, juggling high-profile criminal investigations of political figures, heated congressional inquiries and two attempted assassinations of Mr. Trump.
Even as he fended off Mr. Trump’s relentless criticisms of the F.B.I., Mr. Wray supervised a wide array of national security issues that included terrorism, escalating cyberattacks and threats from geopolitical rivals like China, Iran and Russia. He also had to grapple with a spate of mass shootings and the rise of right-wing extremism while managing an agency with 35,000 employees and a budget of more than $10 billion.
But it was the bureau’s scrutiny of Mr. Trump that almost certainly cut short Mr. Wray’s tenure. His F.B.I. repeatedly investigated Mr. Trump, including by conducting a court-approved search of the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022 for classified documents, examining his widespread efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and delving into the possible links between his 2016 campaign and Russian intelligence operatives engaged in election interference.
Under Mr. Wray’s watch, agents also investigated the current president, Joseph R. Biden Jr., over his handling of sensitive records after he left the vice presidency. They undertook several other politically charged cases that made the agency the subject of sharp partisan scrutiny, including its inquiry into Hunter Biden.
In the face of intense political cajoling, second-guessing and condemnation, Mr. Wray frequently urged his agents to “keep calm and tackle hard,” and preached a strict adherence to the investigative process that has been the agency’s calling card for decades.
His apparent successor could not be more different. Mr. Patel, a former federal prosecutor and public defender, is a fierce critic of the F.B.I. and has vowed to fire its leadership, empty its headquarters and root out the president-elect’s perceived enemies in what he calls the “deep state.”
Mr. Wray’s resignation was not unexpected, but former and current F.B.I. agents said the news still hit hard. They voiced wariness at what could ensue if Mr. Patel was confirmed and said they were bracing themselves for upheaval.
Was Wray forced out due to Trump's sense of personal grievance? Consider this passage from The New York Times, which strongly suggests the answer is yes:
Mr. Trump welcomed the news of [Wray's resignation], praising it on social media as “a great day for America.”
Under Mr. Wray’s leadership, he added, the bureau had “raided my home, without cause, worked diligently on illegally impeaching and indicting me, and has done everything else to interfere with the success and future of America.”
Without cause? If that was the case, how did the FBI get a court order to search Trump's Florida home? Why did they find boxes full of classified documents? Trump, of course, tends not to address those "minor" questions. With Kash Patel in charge, Trump won't have to worry about such trivial issues.
The American people, however, will have to worry about living under a president who flat-out lies to them -- as Trump did when he said the FBI raided his home without cause.
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