FBI Director Christopher Wray reportedly won’t have to job hunt when President-elect Joe Biden takes office — as long as President Trump doesn’t get around to firing Wray first.
According to a New York Times report on Wednesday, a senior adviser to Biden said the President-elect has no plans to remove Wray when the incoming administration is ushered in.
The Biden adviser, however, told the Times that Biden’s team was “not removing the FBI director unless Trump fired him.”
Wray has been rumored to be one of the first heads on the President’s post-election chopping block after refuting Trump’s bogus voter fraud claims and acknowledging that far-right white nationalist-motivated violence is a national security threat to the country.
While Trump in 2017 fired former FBI Director James Comey, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, Senate-confirmed FBI directors are rarely fired and are expected to have 10-year terms.
Following Comey’s firing — which prompted the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller to probe possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials in the 2016 campaign — Trump appointed Wray, a Republican who served during President George W. Bush’s presidency.
The sitting president reportedly aired his frustration with Wray to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. According to the Times, Trump wanted to fire Wray when documents related to former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn were declassified by other officials. Trump believed Wray delayed declassifying Russia probe-related documents.
Meadows reportedly prevented Wray’s ouster by contacting Attorney General Bill Barr, who dissuaded Trump from firing his FBI director.
