FBI Director Chris Wray will resign at the end of the Biden administration, the agency said Wednesday, as it became clear he would be forced out by President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump, who originally nominated Wray after firing the previous FBI director, previously announced he will nominate Kash Patel for the role, although Wray still had three years remaining on his 10-year term. Patel has been meeting with senators to build support for a confirmation vote next year.

Wray had wrestled with whether or not to resign given Trump’s stated desire to replace him, sources say, and wants to facilitate an orderly transition. But some in the FBI worried his departure would normalize Trump’s penchant for replacing FBI directors he doesn’t like, as the position is supposed to straddle administrations and be insulated from politics.

Wray took the helm of the agency after Trump fired Director James Comey following investigations under his watch into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Wray took office after Comey, whose FBI also investigated Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, left the bureau in May 2017.

As the incoming director, Wray was seen by many lawmakers as a solid choice to stabilize a rocky ship, but he ultimately suffered a similar fate as his predecessor, after he too oversaw an FBI that investigated Trump, probes resulting in two separate federal cases against the former president.

Trump, in particular, was unhappy with the FBI’s court-approved search of his Mar-a-Lago resort in August 2022 during the investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified documents.

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