Outgoing FBI Director "Maintains Independence and Objectivity" Due to Trump's No-confidence

FBI Director Christopher Wray, who left office without serving his term due to no confidence in U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, emphasized the FBI's independence in his farewell speech.

"We have to maintain independence and objectivity, we have to transcend partisanship and politics," FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a farewell speech on the 10th local time. "That's what the American people expect, and the people deserve such an FBI."

Ray also emphasized professionalism, rigor and integrity as the principles of work the FBI must adhere to, stressing that it means going after the facts, no matter where they lead us.

Ray, who took office in 2017, during Trump's first term in office, is 10 years and still has more than two and a half years left, but he voluntarily resigned when Trump named Patel, a loyal former acting secretary of defense, as the next FBI director.

Ray has been criticized by Trump since 2021, when the FBI seized and searched his Mar-a-Lago, Florida home during an investigation into Trump's alleged export and illegal storage of confidential data after the end of his first term.

Patel, who has been named Ray's successor, has called the 2020 presidential election a scam and has been signaling retaliation against journalists and others who believe they helped President Joe Biden win the 2020 presidential election if Trump returns to power.