FBI Director Christopher Wray, appointed to his post by Donald Trump during his first term, is preparing for the possibility that he will be removed in the upcoming administration.
Wray was appointed in 2017 to a 10-year term and intended to serve it fully, but that scenario might not play out, NBC News reported. He told the outlet in April that he was "enjoying doing his job."
"As long as I think I can do that in a way that adheres to all those rules and norms, I'd like to keep doing it," Wray said back then.
Trump has been a vocal critic of Wray after leaving office, claiming the bureau is filled with officials making politically motivated decisions. In July he demanded Wray resign "NOW" after he testified before Congress that the wound Trump sustained on his ear during his assassination attempt was not the result of a bullet. The FBI then confirmed a bullet had indeed struck Trump's ear.
Citing three sources familiar with the matter, the outlet reported that Trump adviser Kash Patel is being considered for the position. He is also the next possible CIA head. Patel is a former House and National Security Council staffer.
He worked at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and became a top Department of Defense official at the end of the first Trump administration. The then-president sought to make Patel deputy CIA director by the end of his tenure but refrained after CIA Director Gina Haspel said she would resign if he moved ahead.
Like Trump, Patel is a vocal critic of the Justice Department. Patel has called for a "comprehensive housecleaning" at the DOJ and the FBI, including prosecuting officials who "in any way abused their authority for political ends."
Asked by former White House adviser Steve Bannon in December about becoming a top official in an eventual Trump administration, Patel said "we have to put in all-American patriots top to bottom."
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