Democrats are expressing disappointment at FBI Director Christopher Wray's decision to step down, arguing the move allows President-elect Trump to speed the agency’s transformation and skirt accountability for forcing the director out. "He should have forced Trump to fire him because by stepping down he sort of took the onus off Trump for breaking with the tradition and the policy of having FBI directors serve 10 year terms,” Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD), a former prosecutor and House Judiciary member, told The Hill. “There’s this precedent now for FBI directors stepping down when a new president comes in. And that’s not how this should work.” Trump chose Wray, a lifelong Republican, to lead the FBI after firing James Comey. He has soured on the director since nominating him for a role that would otherwise end in 2027.
To succeed Wray, Trump has picked, Kash Patel, a loyalist who has echoed Trump's calls for retribution. “I’m disappointed, because I would much prefer to have continuity and viability in that office, before someone like Kash Patel gets his hands on it,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD). Patel has written a book called “Government gangsters,” in which he lists 60 people he calls “Members of the Executive Branch Deep State,.” including Wray and other current and former Justice Department officials. Wray didn’t name Trump in announcing his decision to leave as President Biden exits office. He told agents that the move was “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.” Author Garrett Graff writes in Politico that "Wray’s surprise decision is, simply put, a damning decision, an abdication of leadership, and a terrifying indication of how unready Washington remains for a second Trump term ... (It) undermined decades of hard work — by Congress, presidents, the Justice Department and the FBI itself — to move it out of a partisan, political framework.
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