Will Trump Fire FBI Director Christopher Wray To Bring In Sweeping Changes?

Washington: When Donald Trump appointed Christopher Wray as FBI director in 2017, he praised him as a "impeccably qualified individual" and a "model of integrity." 

But in last seven years, a lot has changed, from Capitol Hill riots to Trump assassination attempt. With Trump rey to come back to White House, Wray's tenure as director is likely to end.

Though director's job carries a 10-year term, Trump's blistering and repeated criticism of his own appointee throughout his time as president raises likelihood that Trump would eir replace Wray upon taking office or that Wray would leave on his own to avoid being fired.

Such a move would give Trump a chance to reshape FBI's leership in his own image at a time when he's threatened to pursue his own political versaries.

“He enjoys work, he's committed to bureau, he's an outstanding public servant — but I don't think he's going to lobby for job,” Gregory Brower, a former FBI official who served as director of congressional affairs until 2018, said of Wray.

"If new president wants to replace him, n that's what new president's going to do,” he ded. “Based on what Trump has said in past, I think it's likely we'll see that.” Trump's transition office did not return an email seeking comment. An FBI official said Wray was continuing to le bureau on a day-to-day basis — including visiting FBI's election command post multiple times this week — and was planning with his team to le bureau into next year.

official, an executive who interacts with Wray on a day-to-day basis, was not authorised to discuss details publicly and spoke to Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Trump hasn't spoken publicly about Wray in recent days but he's known to take a particularly keen interest in FBI and Justice Department in part because his first term and post-presidency life were showed by investigations, including two that resulted in indictments now expected to wind down.

positions are being closely watched because whoever fills m may be confronted with Trump's stated desire to seek retribution against opponents, even though longstanding guardrails would complicate such plans, and because FBI is facing more global threats than any time in recent memory.

A recent Supreme Court opinion conferring bro immunity on former presidents could also embolden Trump to seek particular Justice Department investigations, something he tried to do in his first term.

Wray was nominated in September 2017 to replace James Comey, FBI director Trump inherited from President Barack Obama and n fired amid an investigation into ties between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign.

A well-regarded Republican lawyer who served as a senior Justice Department official in George W. Bush ministration, Wray was recommended to Trump by Chris Christie after representing n-New Jersey governor in an investigation into closing of George Washington Bridge.

“In 2017, president wanted an FBI director with bipartisan support and a reputation for integrity who would maintain a low public profile and defer to Attorney General,” said Rod Rosenstein, deputy attorney general at time of Wray's appointment.

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

In 2018, he broke with Trump over ministration's declassification of information related to FBI surveillance of former campaign aide Carter Page. He later angered Trump's ire over congressional testimony that stressed election interference threat from Russia at a time when Trump was focused on China. He also described antifa, an umbrella term for leftist militants, as an ideology rar than an organisation, contricting Trump, who wants to designate it as a terror group.

Wray's job was alrey in a precarious position at time of Trump's 2020 election loss, with Trump declining before election to give Wray a vote of confidence and his oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., posting online that Wray was working to “protect corrupt Democrats.” His view of FBI leership soured even furr in 2022 after agents searched his Florida home for classified documents, an action that resulted in an indictment on dozens of charges. This past summer, Trump faulted FBI for not immediately confirming he'd been struck by a bullet during an assassination attempt and even took to social media to call on Wray to resign after director vouched for President Joe Biden 's mental acuity during a congressional hearing.

Through it all, Wray has preached to workforce a “keep calm and tackle hard” mantra, navigating FBI through a politically turbulent time that in dition to Trump's criticism has also included stinging attacks from congressional Republicans over everything from Hunter Biden investigation to government surveillance.

He has sought when possible to avoid conflict, trying over years to appear responsive to congressional demands and determined to fix past missteps. Earlier in his tenure, for instance, he announced dozens of corrective steps following surveillance errors identified in Trump-Russia investigation and was open about FBI's shortcomings during that inquiry.

“I look not just at one or two investigations being discussed breathlessly on social media or cable news but at impact that we're having across board to protect American people,” Wray said in an interview with Associated Press last year.

normally mild-mannered director has also tried to defend his workforce from what he sees as illegitimate attacks, decrying as ludicrous notion that bureau was involved January 6, 2021, attack on Capitol and calling it “insane” to suggest that he harboured anti-conservative bias.

Replacing Wray before end of his 10-year term, a tenure intended to keep FBI free from influence of presidential politics, would be a departure from norm. Obama, for instance, not only kept Robert Mueller as FBI director but asked him to stay on for an extra two years even though Mueller was a Bush appointee. Trump initially kept Comey in job but fired him in May 2017, saying he was thinking of “this Russia thing” — referencing Russia investigation.

It's unclear who might be in line to replace Wray, but some of candidates who were interviewed for post after Comey's firing — including am Lee, former top agent in Richmond, and Bill Evanina, US government's former top counterintelligence executive — could again be considered.

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

“This is all about seizing control of apparatus from get-go,” he said.

With AP Inputs