WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump lavished Christopher Wray with praise when he named him director of the FBI in 2017presenting him as an “impeccably qualified person” and a “model of integrity”.

So much has changed in the seven years since.

With Trump poised to win back the White House, Wray’s days as director are likely numbered. Although the director’s term is 10 years, Trump’s scathing and repeated criticisms of his own appointment throughout his tenure as president raises the likelihood that Trump would replace Wray as soon as he took office or that Wray would leave on his own to avoid being fired. Such a move would give Trump a chance to reshape the FBI’s leadership in his image, at a time when he is threatening to pursue his own political adversaries.

“He loves his job, he’s dedicated to the bureau, he’s an exceptional public servant — but I don’t think he’ll push for the job,” said Gregory Brower, a former FBI official who served as its director of affairs. of Congress until 2018. said de Wray.

“If the new president wants to replace him, then that’s what he will do,” he added. “Based on what Trump has said in the past, I think it’s likely we’ll see it.”

Trump’s transition office did not respond to an email seeking comment. An FBI official said Wray continues to lead the bureau on a daily basis — including visiting the FBI’s election command post several times this week — and plans with his team to lead the bureau next year. The official, an executive who interacts daily with Wray, was not authorized to publicly discuss details and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Trump has not spoken publicly about Wray in recent days, but he is known to have a particularly keen interest in the FBI and the Justice Department, in part because his the first term and life after the presidency were clouded by investigations, including two which gave rise to indictments which should now be brought to an end. These positions are closely watched because those who fill them could face Trump’s stated desire to exact revenge on his opponents, even if long-standing guardrails complicate such plans, and because the FBI faces broader threats than ever in recent memory.

A recent Supreme Court opinion granting broad immunity on former presidents could also encourage Trump to request special investigations from the Justice Department, something he attempted to do during his first term.

Wray was appointed in September 2017 to replace James Comey, the FBI director that Trump inherited from President Barack Obama and then fired amid an investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign. Prominent Republican lawyer who served as a senior Justice Department official in George W. Bush administration, Wray was recommended to Trump by Chris Christie after representing the then-governor of New Jersey in an investigation into the closure of the George Washington Bridge.

“In 2017, the president wanted an FBI director with bipartisan support and a reputation for integrity, who would maintain a low public profile and defer to the attorney general,” said Attorney Rod Rosenstein. deputy general at the time of Wray’s appointment.

It didn’t take long for Wray to anger Trump.

In 2018, he broke with Trump over the administration’s declassification of information related to FBI surveillance of a former campaign aide. Page Carter. He then angered Trump following his testimony to Congress. who highlighted the threat of election interference of Russia at a time when Trump was focused on China. He also described antifageneric term designating left-wing activists, as an ideology rather than an organization, contradicting Trump, who wants to designate it as a terrorist group.

Wray’s job was already in a precarious position at the time of Trump’s 2020 election defeat, with Trump refusing before the election to give Wray a vote of confidence and his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., posting online that Wray strove to “protect the corrupt.” Democrats.

His opinion of the FBI’s leadership deteriorated further in 2022 after agents searched his Florida home for classified documents, an action that resulted in an indictment on dozens of charges. Last summer, Trump criticized the FBI for not immediately confirming that he had been shot during an assassination attempt and even used social media to call on Wray to resign after the director be guarantor of the president. Joe Biden mental acuity during a congressional hearing.

Through it all, Wray preached to staff the mantra “stay calm and fight hard,” guiding the FBI through a politically turbulent period that, in addition to criticism from Trump, also included scathing attacks from the Congressional Republicans on everything since Hunter Biden investigation to government oversight.

He has sought to avoid conflict as much as possible, trying over the years to appear responsive to Congressional demands and committed to repairing past missteps. For example, earlier in his term, he announced dozens of corrective actions following monitoring errors identified in the Trump-Russia investigation and has been open about the FBI’s shortcomings during that investigation.

“I’m not just looking at one or two investigations being breathlessly discussed on social media or cable news, but also the impact we’re having at every level to protect the American people,” Wray said in an interview with the Associated Press last year. .

The usually mild-mannered director has also tried to defend his staff against what he sees as illegitimate attacks, denouncing as ridiculous the notion that the office was involved in the Attack of January 6, 2021 at the Capitol and calling him “crazy” to suggest he harbored anti-conservative bias.

Replacing Wray before the end of his 10-year term, a mandate intended to keep the FBI free from the influence of presidential politics, would be a break from the norm. Obama, for example, not only maintained Robert Mueller as FBI director, but asked him to stay on for two more years, even though Mueller had been appointed by Bush. Trump initially kept Comey in his job, but fired him in May 2017, saying he was thinking about “this Russia thing” — referring to the Russia investigation.

It is unclear who could replace WrayBut some of the candidates who were interviewed for the job after Comey’s firing — including Adam Lee, the former top Richmond operative, and Bill Evanina, the U.S. government’s former counterintelligence official — could be taken again into consideration.

Frank Montoya, a former senior FBI official, expressed concern that Trump is looking for someone willing to “kiss the ring” and adhere to his wishes.

“It’s all about taking control of the device from the start,” he said.

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