FBI Director Wray planning to call it quits before Trump can kick him to the curb: Report

President-elect Donald Trump has hardly kept secret his desire to send FBI Director Christopher Wray packing just as President Bill Clinton gave William Sessions the boot in 1993. Having read the writing on the wall, the FBI director — whose 10-year term is far from over — is reportedly preparing to save Trump the hassle.

Sources inside the FBI who are apparently familiar with the director's thinking recently told the Washington Times that Wray wants to end on his own terms rather than get canned by Trump.

"He's going to be gone at the inauguration. On or before the inauguration," said one source.

The absence will be temporarily filled by FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate, whose original plan was reportedly to kick around the bureau until summer 2025 so that he could help with the changing of the guard.

The FBI told the Times in a statement, "The FBI has repeatedly demonstrated our commitment to responding to Congressional oversight and being transparent with the American people. Director Wray and Deputy Director Abbate have taken strong actions toward achieving accountability in the areas mentioned in the letter and remain committed to sharing information about the continuously evolving threat environment facing our nation and the extraordinary work of the FBI."

Wray told NBC News in April that he was "enjoying doing this job."

'Promises made, promises broken has become a recurrent theme under your leadership.'

"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," added Wray.

It is now especially clear that Wray is not welcome in the incoming administration.

While Trump's Nov. 30 announcement that he would nominate former National Security Council official Kash Patel to helm the FBI was as good an indication as any that Wray's days as director were numbered, Trump once again noted his displeasure with the job Wray has done in an interview Sunday with NBC News' Kristen Welker.

"I can't say I'm thrilled with him," Trump told Welker. "He invaded my home. I'm suing the country over it. He invaded Mar-a-Lago. I'm very unhappy with the things he's done."

"I have a lot of respect for the FBI, but the FBI's respect has gone way down over the last number of years," added Trump.

On Monday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) — the incoming Senate Judiciary chair — noted in an 11-page letter to Wray that he had failed in his fundamental duties as director, namely "the prompt and thorough compliance with congressional oversight requests and the protection of whistleblowers."

"Rather than turn over a new leaf at the FBI, you've continued to read from the old playbook of weaponization, double standards, and a relentless game of hide-and-seek with the Congress," wrote Grassley. "Promises made, promises broken has become a recurrent theme under your leadership."

Grassley listed a number of examples indicating where he felt Wray went wrong, including:

• the FBI's "inexcusable failure to investigate bribery allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden, while strictly scrutinizing former President Trump";
• the FBI's apparent eagerness to "act against President Trump based upon sources lacking credibility, such as those behind the Steele Dossier";
• the FBI's "unprecedented raid of President Trump's home in Florida to serve a warrant for records," conducted "despite serious questions about the need for it" — the type of raid that President Joe Biden was not subjected to during his classified documents probe and that Hillary Clinton was not similarly subjected to "even though she and her staff mishandled highly classified information while using a non-government server after repeated warnings from State Department security personnel it was a security risk";
• the FBI's alleged role "as an accomplice to the Democrats' false information campaign designed to undermine my investigation of alleged Biden-family corruption"; and
• the bureau's failures to respond to various records requests and inquiries.

"For the good of the country, it's time for you and your deputy to move on to the next chapter in your lives," wrote Grassley. "President-elect Trump has already announced his intention to nominate a candidate to replace you, and the Senate will carefully consider that choice. For my part, I've also seen enough, and hope your respective successors will learn from these failures."

An FBI source previously told the Times that the expectation following Kamala Harris' landslide defeat was that Wray was on his way out.

"It's a countdown for Wray because [people here] don't think he will stay to get fired after what Trump did to Comey," said one FBI source. "Trump will say, 'Yeah, fire his ass. Don't let him take the plane home.'"

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