FBI Director Christopher Wray explained in an interview Sunday on CBS's “60 Minutes” why he decided to step down “at such a dangerous time,” with nearly three years left on his term.
“Why resign if it's such a dangerous time?” host Scott Pelley asked.
Mr. Wray, 58, said everything from communist China's ability to attack critical U.S. infrastructure to domestic terrorists like New Orleans attacker Shamsuddin Jabbar, who became radicalized “in weeks rather than years.” I was just outlining America's biggest threats.
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FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 12, 2017. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“My decision to retire from the FBI was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make,” Wray responded.
The outgoing FBI director says he cares deeply about the FBI and the people, but his decision to step down after only seven years of a 10-year term reflects the leadership expressed by President-elect Donald Trump. He said he was motivated by a desire to be replaced. At the station. Ray announced in December that he would step down.
“The president-elect has made it clear that he intends to make changes…My conclusion was that the best thing for the department was to do this in an orderly manner, without pushing the department deeper into the fray. That's true,” Ray said.
FBI Director Christopher Wray announces resignation
Local law enforcement officers are seen in front of former President Donald Trump's home at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on August 9, 2022. (Giorgio Vieira/AFP via Getty Images)
Wray graduated from Yale Law School, joined the Justice Department in 1997, and was nominated to head the Justice Department in 2017 after President Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey.
Relations between Trump and Wray have soured since the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago on suspicion that the president-elect was in possession of classified documents in his private residence.
“Our job at the FBI is to pursue the facts, regardless of what anyone wants,” Wray told “60 Minutes.''
Wray further escalated tensions with Trump after the president questioned whether he was actually shot at a July 2023 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Wray told House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) during a hearing on the attack: “As for former President Trump, there are questions about whether it was a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear.'' I will remain,” he said.
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President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, Tuesday, January 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Trump campaign spokesman and incoming White House communications director accused Wray in a statement at the time of making a “conspiracy theorist's hard sell” for “political reasons.” New York Post.
Mr. Trump nominated Mr. Ray's longtime ally, Kashyap “Kash” Patel, to replace him as director.
Patel, 44, who served on the National Security Council during Trump's first term and wrote the book “Government Gangsters,” is one of the president-elect's most controversial figures.
Former President Reagan's CIA Director William H. Webster, 100, sent a letter to senators urging them not to confirm Patel, saying it would set a “dangerous precedent.” .
President Trump: “Christopher Wray's resignation is a great day for America because it brings an end to the weaponization of the organization known as the United States Office of Fraud.'' Posted on Truth Social After Ray announced his resignation in December 2024.
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In an interview on “60 Minutes,'' Wray expressed his view that China poses the greatest threat to the United States.
“The Chinese government has these networks on standby ready to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to U.S. civilian critical infrastructure at a time and place of their choosing,” he said. said.
