(Washington) Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, the American federal police, whom Donald Trump wants to replace with one of his close friends, announced Wednesday that he would resign in January before the inauguration of the new president.
Posted at 2:42 p.m.
Updated at 4:00 p.m.
Mr. Wray, in office since August 2017 and whose mandate ends in 2027, informed FBI employees of his decision on Wednesday, the federal police said in a press release.
The American president-elect announced in early December his intention to appoint Kash Patel, a loyalist, as head of the FBI, the target of virulent attacks from conservatives.
“After several weeks of careful consideration, I have decided that the best thing for the FBI is for me to remain in office until the end of the current administration and then to resign,” Christopher Wray was quoted as saying in the press release. .
“My goal is to maintain our focus on our mission, the essential work you do every day for the American people. In my opinion, this is the best way to avoid pushing the FBI even further into the political fray, he added.
The director of the FBI has, despite himself, in recent years become one of the incarnations of the “instrumentalization of justice” against Donald Trump that the supporters of the Republican billionaire denounce over and over again.
Search of Mar-a-Lago in 2022
“The resignation of Christopher Wray is a great day for America because it will put an end to the exploitation of what is now known as the American Department of Injustice,” reacted Donald Trump on his Truth Social network .
“Under the direction of Christopher Wray, the FBI illegally searched my home,” he said, referring to the search of his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida (southeast), in August 2022 .
The operation allowed the seizure of classified documents taken by the ex-president after his departure from the White House. He was prosecuted for having compromised national security by retaining these documents, including military plans or information on nuclear weapons, instead of handing them over to the National Archives, as required by law.
The Minister of Justice of the outgoing Democratic administration, Merrick Garland, on the contrary praised the action of Christopher Wray who served the United States “honorably and with integrity for decades, including seven years as director of the FBI under presidents of both parties.
“The director of the FBI has the responsibility to preserve its independence from inappropriate interference in its criminal investigations,” Mr. Garland underlined in a press release, deeming this independence “essential to the protection of the State rights and freedoms that are dear to us.
Donald Trump had, during his first term, appointed Christopher Wray to succeed James Comey, who became his bête noire for having investigated his alleged links with Russia, accused of interference during his election in 2016.
But the FBI investigation into the assault on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump on January 6, 2021 has notably made the more than century-old institution a target of unprecedented attacks. The federal police, rather conservative, had, until now, always been supported by the political class.
