Trump’s election will likely lead to a change in FBI leadership

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump squandered Christopher Ray with praise when he appointed him FBI director in 2017presenting him as “impeccably qualified” and “a model of integrity.”

In the seven years that have passed since then, a lot has changed.

With Trump poised to retake the White House, Wray’s days as director may be numbered. Although the term of office of a director is 10 years, Violent and repeated criticism of Trump Being his own appointee raises the possibility that Trump will either replace Wray once he takes office or that Wray will step down himself to avoid being fired. Such a move would give Trump a chance to reshape the FBI’s leadership in his own image at a time when he is under threat of persecution by his own political opponents.

“He enjoys his job, he’s committed to the bureau, he’s an outstanding public servant, but I don’t think he’ll lobby for the job,” Gregory Brower, a former FBI official who served as director of congressional affairs until 2018. said about Ray.

“If the new president wants to replace him, that’s what the new president is going to do,” he added. “Based on what Trump has said in the past, I think it’s likely we’ll see it.”

The Trump transition office did not respond to an email seeking comment. An FBI spokesman said Wray continues to oversee the bureau’s day-to-day operations, including several visits to the FBI’s election command post this week, and plans to work with his team to lead its efforts next year. The official, an executive who communicates daily with Ray, was not authorized to publicly discuss the details and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Trump has not spoken publicly about Wray in recent days, but he is known to have a particularly strong interest in the FBI and Justice Department, in part because he The first term and post-presidential life were marred by investigations, including two that are expected to result in the charges being dropped. These positions are being watched closely because whoever holds them may be confronted by Trump’s stated desire to seek retribution against opponents, even though long-standing guardrails may complicate such plans, and because The FBI Faces More Global Threats than any time recently.

Recent Supreme Court decision granting broad immunity on former presidents could also push Trump to demand specific Justice Department investigations, as happened during his first term.

Ray was nominated in June 2017 to replace James Comey, FBI Director Trump inherited from President Barack Obama and then fired amid an investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign in 2016. A respected Republican lawyer who served as a senior Justice Department official in George Bush administration, Ray was recommended to Trump Chris Christie after representing the then-Governor of New Jersey in an investigation into the closure of the George Washington Bridge.

“In 2017, the President wanted an FBI director who had bipartisan support and a reputation for integrity, who would maintain a low profile in public and be subservient to the attorney general,” said Rod Rosenstein, deputy attorney general at the time of Wray’s appointment. email to AP this week,

It didn’t take long for Wray to provoke Trump’s ire.

He broke with Trump in 2018 over the administration’s declassification of information related to FBI surveillance of a former campaign aide. Carter Page. He later angered Trump with testimony before Congress. who highlighted the threat of election interference from Russia at a time when Trump was focused on China. He also described antifaa blanket term for left-wing militants as an ideology rather than an organization, contradicting Trump’s desire to designate them as a terrorist group.

Wray’s job was on shaky ground during Trump’s 2020 election defeat, with Trump refusing to give Wray a vote of confidence before the election and his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., posting online that Wray was working to “defend corrupt Democrats.” ” But the president left him in place.

Trump’s opinion of the FBI’s leadership worsened further in 2022 after agents searched his Florida home for classified documents, leading to dozens of indictments. Last summer, Trump blamed the FBI for not immediately confirming that he had been shot in the assassination attempt and even took to social media to call on Wray to resign after the director vouched for the president. Joe Bidenmental acuity during congressional hearings.

Throughout it all, Wray preached the “keep calm and play tough” mantra to employees while navigating the FBI through a politically turbulent time that, in addition to criticizing Trump, also included harsh and sometimes misleading attacks from congressional Republicans on all issues. , starting from Hunter Biden investigations prior to government oversight.

Ray sought to avoid conflict whenever possible and maintain a no-nonsense approach, striving over the years to appear sensitive to the demands of Congress as well as determined to right past wrongs. At the beginning of his tenure, for example, it announced dozens of corrective measures after surveillance errors was involved in the Trump-Russia investigation and has been vocal about the FBI’s shortcomings in that investigation.

“I look not just at one or two investigations that are breathlessly discussed on social media or cable news, but at the impact that we have across the board in protecting the American people,” Wray told the AP in a past interview. year.

The usually mild-mannered director has also tried to forcefully protect his employees from what he considers illegal attacks, condemning as preposterous the idea that the bureau was involved in January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol and calling it “crazy” to suggest he harbors anti-conservative biases.

Replacing Wray before the end of his 10-year term, designed to protect the FBI from the influence of presidential politics, would be an aberration. Obama, for example, not only preserved Robert Mueller as FBI director, but asked him to stay on for two more years, even though Mueller had been appointed by Bush. Trump initially kept Comey in the post, but fired him in May 2017, saying he was thinking about “this Russia thing,” a reference to the Russia investigation.

It’s unclear who might replace Ray. if he leaves, but some candidates interviewed for the post after Comey’s ouster, including Adam Lee, the former top agent in Richmond, and William Evanina, the former top U.S. government counterintelligence chief, could be considered again.

Frank Montoya, a former senior FBI official, said he was concerned Trump was looking for someone willing to “kiss the ring” and carry out his wishes.

“This is about seizing control of the apparatus from the very beginning,” he said.