President Biden will keep Christopher Wray on as FBI director, according to a report Thursday.
Wray, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump in August 2017, still has six years remaining on his 10-year term, but since the FBI head serves at the pleasure of the president, Wray’s tenure had come into question under the new administration, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The development comes as White House press secretary Jen Psaki offered a lukewarm endorsement for Wray in her first news briefing Wednesday evening.
Asked if Biden had confidence in Wray, the Biden administration spokeswoman wouldn’t commit.
“I have not spoken with him specifically about FBI Director Wray in recent days … but I’ll circle back with you if there’s more to convey,” she said.
Trump and Wray had a rocky relationship, and news reports said the former president was prepared to sack Wray if he won a second term in the White House.
Wray has tried to keep a low profile since succeeding former FBI Director James Comey, but sparked Trump’s ire for not making more of an effort to look into mail-in voting fraud claims during the 2020 presidential election.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a news conference at the White House on Jan. 20, 2021. Evan Vucci/AP“There’s thousands of ballots right there, you pick up any paper in the country practically and they’re cheating all over the place with the ballots, so how is that not a problem? That’s a much bigger problem than China or Russia, if you look at it, it’s a much bigger problem,” Trump said in an interview in October.
Wray also took heat recently for not speaking out publicly about the Capitol riots on Jan. 6.
