FBI Director Christopher Wray tells CBS News "60 Minutes" he's retiring early because he didn't want to thrust the bureau "deeper into the fray" after facing intense criticism from President-elect Trump. Trump nominated Wray in 2017 for what is supposed to be a 10-year term, but the FBI chief has been criticized by the Republican leader and his allies over issues related to Trump and President Biden. Wray addressed being criticized over FBI investigations by both a Republican and a Democratic president, Axios reports. "This is a hard job. You're inevitably going to make different people angry, often very powerful people," Wray said. "But part of the essence of the rule of law is to make sure that facts, and the law, and proper predication drive investigations, not who's in power, not who wants it to be so or not so,." Wray said an investigator's job was to "follow the facts wherever they lead, no matter who likes it."
Trump has criticized the FBI for searching his Mar-a-Lago home in 2022 in an investigation into the storage of classified documents. A search warrant is "not anybody's first choice" and investigators always try less intrusive means, like receiving information voluntarily or via a subpoena, said Wray, who described himself as a "conservative Republican." "Only if, after all that, we learn that the agents haven't been given all of the classified material and in fact those efforts have been frustrated, even obstructed, then our agents are left with no choice but to go to a federal judge, make a probable cause showing, and get a search warrant," he said. "That's what happened here." Wray said China's targeting U.S. civilian critical infrastructure was the biggest threat the incoming Trump administration faced. The most challenging terrorism threat is online radicalization from extremist groups, Wray said. He noted that the FBI's investigation into the New Orleans New Year's Day terrorist attack indicated the suspect was "radicalized online" and he "appears to have been inspired — from afar — by ISIS."
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