5 biggest FBI scandals during Christopher Wray's tenure as director
Fox News Digital compiled FBI Director Christopher Wray's top five scandals across his seven years of service now that he is stepping down ahead of the second Trump administration.
FBI Director Christopher Wray announced that he will step down from the helm of the federal law enforcement agency ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
"After weeks of careful thought, I’ve decided the right thing for the Bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current Administration in January and then step down," Wray said during a town hall on Wednesday, announcing his resignation.
"My goal is to keep the focus on our mission – the indispensable work you’re doing on behalf of the American people every day. In my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the Bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work."
Fox News Digital looked back on the director’s last seven years with the federal agency, compiling five of the biggest controversies that rocked the bureau, as well as the Biden administration overall.
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Approximately 30 armed FBI agents converged on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida in August 2022 to execute a search warrant regarding classified documents in the former president’s possession.
The unprecedented raid included agents rifling through former and upcoming first lady Melania Trump’s wardrobe. The agents seized 33 boxes of documents amid the search warrant.
"He invaded my home. I’m suing the country over it. He invaded Mar-a-Lago. I’m very unhappy with the things he’s done. And crime is at an all-time high. Migrants are pouring into the country that are from prisons and from mental institutions, as we’ve discussed. I can’t say I’m thrilled," Trump said of Wray during an interview with NBC that aired Sunday.
Earlier this year, it was revealed the Biden administration authorized the use of deadly force during the raid. The jarring revelation added fuel to the fire of conservatives slamming the raid, though the FBI clarified that the same language was used in a similar search warrant for President Biden’s Delaware home.
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Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who called for Wray’s resignation in a scathing letter earlier this week, argued there were "serious questions" revolving around the raid considering Trump had been cooperating with investigators regarding the classified documents.
"This raid occurred despite serious questions about the need for it. President Trump apparently was cooperating with the investigation, notwithstanding liberal press reports. He voluntarily turned over 15 boxes of documents months before the FBI’s drastic escalation," Grassley continued, adding that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton never faced such a raid "even though she and her staff mishandled highly classified information while using a non-government server."
Trump, in reaction to Wray’s resignation, again railed against the "illegal" raid on Mar-a-Lago.
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"Under the leadership of Christopher Wray, the FBI illegally raided my home, without cause, worked diligently on illegally impeaching and indicting me, and has done everything else to interfere with the success and future of America. They have used their vast powers to threaten and destroy many innocent Americans, some of which will never be able to recover from what has been done to them," he wrote on Truth Social.
Wray testified before the House Judiciary Committee in July and defended that he "would not call it a raid" on Mar-a-Lago, instead saying the FBI conducted "the execution of a lawful search warrant."
In January 2023, conservative lawmakers slammed an internal FBI memo from the Richmond field office, titled "Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities."
The memo identified "radical-traditionalist Catholic[s]" as potential "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists" and said that "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) in radical-traditionalist Catholic (RTC) ideology almost certainly presents opportunities for threat mitigation through the exploration of new avenues for tripwire and source development."
The memo was rescinded, but lawmakers scrutinized Wray as to why Americans were targeted due to their religious beliefs – which defies the U.S. Constitution.
Twenty Republican lawmakers wrote in a letter to Wray last year, saying that the memo "singled out traditional Catholics for their pro-life views, accusing RTCs of ‘hostility towards abortion-rights advocates’ in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision…"
"This specific call out to pro-life views is of even greater concern, considering the slow rate of investigation and response to the violent attacks that a number of pro-life pregnancy centers and Catholic Churches have experienced since the Dobbs decision was leaked in May of last year," they wrote.
Wray said in a 2023 Senate Judiciary hearing that, "We do not and will not conduct investigations based on anybody’s exercise of their constitutionally protected religious [expression]."
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The FBI also came under fire during Wray’s tenure when the FBI raided a home and arrested a pro-life man in Pennsylvania in 2022.
Mark Houck, a Catholic dad of seven who would often pray outside a Philadelphia abortion clinic, was arrested at his rural Pennsylvania home in Kintnersville by the FBI. The arrest stemmed from an altercation he had with a Planned Parenthood escort in Philadelphia in October 2021. Houck was accused of pushing the abortion clinic escort, who allegedly verbally harassed Houck's 12-year-old son outside the clinic.
The Biden administration alleged Houck violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which makes it a federal crime to use force with the intent to injure, intimidate and interfere with anyone because that person provides reproductive health care.
Houck was acquitted by a jury last year after arguing that he was protecting his son. He and his wife Ryan-Marie argued the FBI used excessive force during the arrest, filing a lawsuit against the DOJ earlier this year alleging the arrest followed a "faulty and malicious investigation."
The DOJ and FBI were heavily criticized by parents nationwide in 2021, when Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo directing the FBI to use counterterrorism tools related to parents speaking out at school board meetings against transgender-related issues and critical race theory curricula.
The memorandum followed the National School Boards Association (NSBA) sending a letter to President Biden, asking that the federal government investigate parents protesting at school board meetings, claiming school officials were facing threats at meetings.
The NSBA requested that parents' actions should be examined under the Patriot Act as "domestic terrorists," sparking Garland’s eventual memo, which did not use the phrase "domestic terrorist."
"After surveying local law enforcement, U.S. Attorney’s offices around the country reported back to Main Justice that there was no legitimate law-enforcement basis for the Attorney General’s directive to use federal law-enforcement and counterterrorism resources to investigate school board-related threats," the House Judiciary Committee stated in an interim report on the memo last year.
Garland testified before the Senate last year that the memo "was aimed at violence and threats of violence against a whole host of school personnel," not parents "making complaints to their school board," but the memo set off a firestorm of criticism from parents, nonetheless.
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"The premier law enforcement agency of the United States of America, the FBI, was used as a weapon by the DOJ against parents who dared to voice their concerns at the most local level – their school board," Moms For Liberty founder Tiffany Justice told Fox News Digital last year.
In Grassley’s blistering 11-page letter to Wray on Monday, he slammed the FBI for acting as an "accomplice to the Democrats’ false information campaign" surrounding his investigation into "alleged Biden-family corruption."
Grassley said that the FBI "sat on bribery allegations" against Biden when he served as vice president, as well as Biden's son, Hunter Biden, and Ukrainian officials.
"Consistent with that FBI failure, yet another glaring example of FBI’s broken promises under your leadership is its inexcusable failure to investigate bribery allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden, while strictly scrutinizing former President Trump. You’ve repeatedly claimed you would ensure the FBI does justice, ‘free of fear, favor, or partisan influence.’ The FBI under your watch, however, had possession of incriminating information against President Biden for three years until I exposed the existence of the record outlining those allegations, but did nothing to investigate it," he wrote.
At question in the investigation was an FBI-generated FD-1023 form that allegedly described a multimillion-dollar criminal scheme involving then-Vice President Biden and a foreign national relating to the exchange of money for policy decisions. Grassley ultimately acquired the document through legally protected disclosures by Department of Justice whistleblowers.
That document reflects the FBI's interview with a "highly credible" confidential human source who described meetings and conversations they had with an executive of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings over the course of several years, starting in 2015. Hunter Biden sat on the board of Burisma at the time.
Biden denied the accusations, calling the bribery allegations a "bunch of malarkey" last year.
"Still, to-date, the DOJ and FBI have neither answered whether they investigated the substance of the FD-1023, nor have they provided an explanation for any effort undertaken to obtain the financial records and other pieces of evidence referenced within the document," Grassley wrote to Wray on Monday. "This sounds a lot like Director Comey’s leadership of the FBI, which was nothing short of shameful."
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When asked about Grassley’s letter earlier this week, the FBI said it "has repeatedly demonstrated our commitment to responding to Congressional oversight and being transparent with the American people."
"Director Wray and Deputy Director Abbate have taken strong actions toward achieving accountability in the areas mentioned in the letter and remain committed to sharing information about the continuously evolving threat environment facing our nation and the extraordinary work of the FBI."
Trump faced a shocking assassination attempt in July during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was hit on the side of his face as the suspect opened fire on the crowd.
Trump survived the attempt, while local dad and volunteer firefighter Corey Compatore lost his life protecting his family.
Wray came under fire regarding the assassination attempt when he appeared before the House Judiciary Committee and cast doubt on whether a bullet actually struck Trump.
"I think with respect to former President Trump, there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that, you know, hit his ear," Wray said at the hearing.
Trump blasted him online for the comment.
"FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress yesterday that he wasn’t sure if I was hit by shrapnel, glass, or a bullet (the FBI never even checked!), but he was sure that Crooked Joe Biden was physically and cognitively ’uneventful’ - Wrong!" Trump wrote on Truth Social in July.
"No, it was, unfortunately, a bullet that hit my ear, and hit it hard. There was no glass, there was no shrapnel. The hospital called it a "bullet wound to the ear," and that is what it was. No wonder the once storied FBI has lost the confidence of America!"
The FBI later confirmed a bullet, "whether whole or fragmented," struck Trump.
The FBI did not provide Fox News Digital with additional comment when presented with the scandals on Wednesday afternoon. The FBI later followed up and, while the agency did not address any of the scandals, provided a lengthy list of what the bureau said it believes are Wray’s accomplishments.
Wray stepping down as FBI director clears the path for Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, to begin the confirmation process in earnest. Wray, whom Trump appointed during his first administration, was in the midst of a 10-year appointment that did not end until 2027. If Wray had not announced that he would voluntarily step down, Trump would have needed to fire him in order for Patel to potentially take his spot if confirmed by the Senate.
"Kash Patel is the most qualified Nominee to lead the FBI in the Agency’s History, and is committed to helping ensure that Law, Order, and Justice will be brought back to our Country again, and soon. As everyone knows, I have great respect for the rank-and-file of the FBI, and they have great respect for me. They want to see these changes every bit as much as I do but, more importantly, the American People are demanding a strong, but fair, System of Justice. We want our FBI back, and that will now happen. I look forward to Kash Patel’s confirmation, so that the process of Making the FBI Great Again can begin," Trump added in his reaction to Wray’s resignation.
Fox News Digital's Andrew Mark Miller and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
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