(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) On the heels of a damning inspector general report that revealed FBI Director Christopher Wray authorized spying on Kash Patel during the first term of President Donald Trump, Wray signaled his intention to resign as Trump assumes office again and Patel prepares to replace Wray on the Hoover Building’s seventh floor.
BREAKING: Starting in 2017, FBI Dir McCabe, who signed illegal FISA on Trump, ordered Google + Apple not to disclose to Kash Patel + other Hill targets the FBI was spying on them. FBI continued to vacuum up their emails for up to four (4) years, which means Wray renewed the order
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) December 10, 2024
During a town-hall event with FBI rank-and-file on Wednesday, Wray revealed his intention to resign at the end of the Biden administration in January, three years short of his full 10-year appointment, the Associated Press reported.
“My goal is to keep the focus on our mission—the indispensable work you’re doing on behalf of the American people every day,” Wray told agency employees. “In my view, 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 resignation spares an unpleasant showdown between Wray—who serves at the will of the president—and Trump—who faced a two-year Russia-hoax investigation that weighed heavily on his presidency after firing former FBI Director James Comey early in his first term. Wray was appointed by Trump to replace Comey, with corrupt deputy director Andrew McCabe serving as acting director in the interim.
“I just don’t know what happened to him,” Trump said in a post commemorating Wray’s resignation on Wednesday via Truth Social, calling it a “great day for America.”
With Patel and other incoming presumptive officials at the helm, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Harmeet Dhillon as assistant AG overseeing the Office of Civil Rights, the Justice Department is poised to undertake a major reckoning to address years of lawfare, weaponization and abuse of power against their political enemies—namely, conservatives who support limited government and greater protections for civil liberties.
“Under the leadership of Christopher Wray, the FBI illegally 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,” Trump wrote. “They have used their vast powers to threaten and destroy many innocent Americans, some of which will never be able to recover from what has been done to them.”
Although Wray inherited an FBI deeply damaged by Comey and McCabe, which seemed to openly flout legal restrictions on surveillance and scorn any effort at oversight, he has done little to enact meaningful change, frequently stonewalling and parsing his language at congressional hearings, or refusing to show up at all.
He alarmingly brushed off threats of international terrorism, despite the Biden administration’s open-border policies, and instread touted a nonexistedn growing threat of “domestic violent extremism” to justify the FBI’s illicit surveillance activities and attempts to infiltrate and spy on groups of Americans, sometimes coercing them to commit illegal acts against their better judgement.
Before being named FBI director, Wray worked at a prestigious law firm, King & Spalding, where he represented another disloyal ex-Trump confidante, former Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., during the “Bridgegate” affair. He also led the Justice Department’s criminal division for a period during President George W. Bush’s administration.
Ben Sellers is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
