Why did FBI Director Chris Wray resign?

FBI Director Christopher Wray announced Wednesday he will resign his post before President Trump takes office in January. President-elect Trump had already said he would tap Kash Patel, an outspoken FBI critic, to head the agency. President Trump appointed Wray in 2017, and FBI directors typically serve a 10-year term.

According to Axios, Wray announced the news he was leaving at a town hall and said the choice was not easy. He was leaving, he added, to “avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray” and to “keep the focus on our mission — the indispensable work you’re doing on behalf of the American people every day,” Wray said.

Trump’s opinion on Wray has changed

Wray is a Trump appointee, but since then, he’s fallen out of favor with the once-and-future president. Under Wray, Trump and his faithful have criticized the FBI investigations, or lack thereof, on President Biden, Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, the former president, and Jan. 6 rioters.

Two years ago, Wray’s FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home to recover classified documents Trump kept after he left office, Reuters reported. And last year, House Republicans threatened to hold Wray in contempt to access a 2020 document, which they said contained allegations against Biden and his family.

Trump himself called on Wray to resign in July because then-candidate Trump claimed he had lied about Biden’s mental capacity. Kirsten Welker asked Trump on Meet the Press on Dec. 8 if he planned to fire Wray. Trump said in part, “Well, I can’t say I’m thrilled with him. He invaded my home. I’m suing the country over it. He invaded Mar-a-Lago. I’m very unhappy with the things he — he’s done, and crime is at an all-time high.”

Trump did not confirm or deny he would fire Wray, telling Welker, “I don’t want to say — I don’t want to, again, I don’t want to be Joe Biden and give you an answer and then do the exact opposite.”

Without an official confirmation, Patel says he’ll be ready on day one

Trump has backed down from his pledge to exact “political retribution” on his enemies on day one, but likely influencing Wray’s decision to resign was Trump’s announcement he would pick loyalist Patel for the job, who has pledged to shut down “the FBI Hoover Building on day one and reopen the next day as a museum of the deep state. And I’d take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals.”

Last year, Wray denied he was protecting the Bidens, testifying before House Republicans. Wray, who got his start in the Justice Department in 2003 under Bush Jr., added, “The idea that I am biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me, given my own personal background.”

After Wray announced he would resign, Patel, who has not yet been confirmed by the Senate, said he was looking forward to a “smooth transition” for the agency. “I will be ready to serve the American people on day one,” Patel, who dresses a bit like the Guy Fieri of law enforcement, told Reuters in a statement.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, President-elect Trump added, “The resignation of Christopher Wray is a great day for America as it will end the weaponization of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice. I just don’t know what happened to him.”