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By the time Donald J. Trump left the White House, he was eager to fire Mr. Wray, but he held back. His antipathy only heightened in the years after his presidency.
- Dec. 11, 2024, 6:56 p.m. ET
The announcement by Christopher A. Wray on Wednesday that he would step down as F.B.I. director ends a turbulent relationship in which President-elect Donald J. Trump repeatedly denounced a law enforcement agency he could not control.
For years, Mr. Trump has complained that picking Mr. Wray to run the F.B.I. in 2017 was one of his worst personnel decisions as president. By the time Mr. Trump left the White House, he was eager to fire Mr. Wray, but he held back. His antipathy only heightened in the years after his presidency.
In selecting Mr. Wray, Mr. Trump believed he had found the antithesis of the F.B.I. director he had just fired, James B. Comey. The president derided Mr. Comey as a “showboat” and chafed at the F.B.I.’s investigation into his 2016 campaign and its possible ties to Russia.
Mr. Wray was no showboat. In his early television interviews as F.B.I. director, he often seemed uncomfortable and intent on avoiding making headlines. But the honeymoon was brief, because the F.B.I. Mr. Trump wanted was far different from the one Mr. Wray has run.
Here is how their relationship quickly went from bad to awful.
Russia, Russia, Russia
The two men were at odds in 2018 over efforts by Mr. Trump’s Republican allies in the House to declassify a memo that they said would show the Russia investigation was a politically motivated smear campaign.
The memo accused the F.B.I. and Justice Department of abusing their authority in securing a highly classified warrant to surveil a former Trump campaign adviser.
