FBI director will resign before Trump takes office

Wray still had three years left in his term. He had been nominated by Trump in 2017, but the two have since grown apart.

In an interview over the weekend, Trump said he was “very unhappy with the things that (Wray) did” and cited the FBI’s 2022 search of his Florida home to recover secret documents taken from the White House.

“He broke into my house,” Trump complained.

Wray, in his address to FBI employees, said the resignation “is the best way to avoid dragging the FBI further into controversy.”

Patel, a former Trump adviser and Pentagon official, has been critical of the bureau and supports the hard-line Republican view that there is an anti-Trump “deep state” in the shadows, even writing a book on the topic.

The son of Indian immigrants, Patel held several high-level positions during Trump’s first term, including national security adviser and chief of staff to the acting secretary of defense.