FBI Director Christopher Wray has resigned following Donald Trump’s nomination to replace him

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Christopher Wray will step down as FBI director before Donald Trump is sworn in next month, following the president-elect’s plan to change the leadership of the US’s top law enforcement agency.

“After a few weeks of serious consideration, I have decided that the best fit for this office is to serve until the end of the current term in January and then step down,” Wraywho was nominated by Trump in 2017 for a term that would have ended in 2027, told FBI officials on Wednesday.

The announcement comes less than two weeks after Trump chose Kash Patel to head the FBI, a controversial choice that has promised to eliminate the “deep state” from US law enforcement agencies and protect the right-wing QAnon conspiracy.

Wray’s behavior suggests that Patel, aggressive Trumpet the loyalist who advised the secretary of defense in the first administration of the president, may face a smooth way to be confirmed after the first party of stones.

Patel in recent days has met with several Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill – including John Cornyn and Josh Hawley, senators from Texas and Missouri, respectively – in an effort to seek support ahead of his lawsuit.

“FBI nominee @Kash_Patel will be a champion for America First. I will do everything in my power to get him elected in the end,” Markwayne Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma, said. wrote on X Tuesday after their meeting.

Trump’s aides were angered by Wray after federal agencies searched his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. This led to the government indicting the former US president, while Trump was accused of tampering with classified information. The case was dismissed by a federal judge and the Justice Department also moved to vacate the grounds for Trump’s election victory in November, citing internal policy that prevents impeachment of the president.

Trump said the attack and the impeachment were illegal in an article on Truth Social on Wednesday. He also said that Wray’s resignation is “a great day for America because it will end the tools that have become known as the Department of Justice in the United States”.

Under Wray, the FBI cracked down on the illicit fentanyl, which passed the law and listed painkillers as the main cause of overdose in the US.

He also criticized external threats, focusing on China, “an adversary that has become well-known for its intent to lie, steal and steal the way we manage economies and nations in the coming years,” Wray told staff on Wednesday.

“My goal is to focus on our work — the important work you do on behalf of the American people every day,” Wray added. “In my opinion, this is the best way to avoid dragging the office deeper into the fray, and to reinforce the values ​​that are most important to doing our job.”

US Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement praised Wray for his “integrity and skill.”