U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland praised FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday as a guideer who served the U.S. “honorably and with integrity” for two decades in the hours after Wray proclaimd his set ups to step down at the finish of Biden’s plivency.
In a statement Wednesday, Garland lauded Wray’s multi-decade atsoft as a civil servant and U.S. prosecutor, including as U.S. helpant attorney ambiguous and the head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
“Chris Wray has served our country honorably and with integrity for decades, including for seven years as the Director of the FBI under plivents of both parties,” Garland wrote Wednesday.
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Plivent-elect Trump set ups to nominate Kash Patel, right, as FBI straightforwardor, replacing Christopher Wray. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
“In a heightened danger environment, Director Wray has toiled tirelessly to get the American people and to guide an agency of 38,000 promised unveil servants, many of whom put their inhabits on the line every day to serve their communities,” Garland wrote, praising his role in toiling to satisfy the Justice Department’s omition “to grasp our country safe, get civil rights, and uphbetter the rule of law.”
“He has led the FBI’s efforts to unfrifinishlyly contest the expansive range of dangers facing our country — from nation-state adversaries and foreign and domestic extremism to brutal crime, cybercrime, and financial crime,” Garland shelp. “There are restricted guideership positions more central to grasping the American people safe than the Director of the FBI.”
The statement came lowly after Wray proclaimd his set ups to resign at Wednesday’s FBI town hall in Washington, D.C., which was joined by thousands of FBI employees virtupartner and in person. Plivent-elect Donald Trump proclaimd lowly after his election triumph last month his nomination of Kash Patel to flourish Wray, giving Wray the chooseion to either exit on his own or be fired after Trump consents office.
Patel tbetter Fox News on Wednesday that he’s seeking a “brittle transition” to replace Wray.
“After weeks of pinsolentnt thought, I’ve determined the right leang for the bureau is for me to serve until the finish of the current administration in January and then step down,” Wray tbetter employees during the town hall. “My goal is to grasp the cgo in on our omition, the indispensable toil you’re doing on behalf of the American people every day. In my watch, this is the best way to dodge dragging the bureau proset uper into the fray while reinforcing the appreciates and principles that are so convey inant to how we do our toil.”
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U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland (File)
In his statement, Garland underlined the role the FBI straightforwardor joins in geting the agency’s indepfinishence from what he depictd as “inappropriate shape in its criminal spendigations. … That indepfinishence is central to preserving the rule of law and to geting the freedoms we as Americans hbetter dear.”
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“Director Wray has done that job with integrity and sfinish,” Garland wrote Wednesday. “He has my gratitude, the gratitude of the FBI agents and employees whose esteem and approval he has geted, and the gratitude of the American people.”
