Tenure
In January 2020, Senator Chris Murphy wrote to Wray, urging the FBI to "investigate the allegations" that Saudi Arabia "illegally compromised and stole personal data" from Jeff Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post, as part of a possible effort to "influence, if not silence, the Washington Post's reporting on Saudi Arabia".
On June 4, 2020, Wray stated that "anarchists" like antifa are "exploiting" George Floyd protests "to pursue violent, extremist agendas". Wray later clarified that antifa is an ideology rather than a specific organization, clashing with Trump.
In April 2020, Trump considered ousting Wray and replacing him with William Evanina but when Attorney General William Barr threatened to resign, Trump backed down.
In May 2020, Wray ordered an internal review into possible misconduct in the FBI's investigation of Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn. On October 28, the FBI Agents Association released a letter addressed to both Trump and Joe Biden requesting Wray remain Director of the FBI for the 10-year term. On December 2, a member of then-president-elect Biden's transition team announced that if Wray was not fired or removed from his position by Trump, then he would remain Director of the FBI. On March 2, 2021, Wray testified in Senate hearings about the extremism that led to the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol in which he condemned the attack on the U.S. Capitol and argued that it was a case of domestic terrorism.
In July 2023, Wray was questioned by House Republicans regarding allegations of political bias and civil liberties violations. Republicans alleged FBI's interference in the Hunter Biden investigation and broader abuses of power. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH)'s committee "released a report ... about U.S. social media companies facilitating 'censorship requests to American social media companies on behalf of a Ukrainian intelligence agency infiltrated by Russian-aligned actors'." Wray responded by saying the FBI had arrested "20,000 violent criminals, removing an average of 60 criminals from the streets per day."
On February 13, 2018, in a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing focused on Chinese espionage in the United States, Senator Marco Rubio asked Wray about the risk posed from Chinese students in advanced science and mathematics programs. In response, Wray stated "nontraditional collectors" (which he elaborated to include professors, scientists, and students) are "exploiting the very open research and development environment that we have" and consequently he viewed the risk "as not just a whole of government threat but a whole of society threat." Representatives Judy Chu, Ted Lieu, and Grace Meng released statements criticizing Wray's response as "irresponsible generalizations" implying that all Chinese students and scholars were spies. A coalition of Asian American advocacy groups wrote an open letter to Wray asking for a dialogue "to discuss how well-intentioned public policies might nonetheless lead to troubling issues of potential bias, racial profiling, and wrongful prosecution". In a follow-up interview with NBC, Wray stood by his earlier remarks: "To be clear, we do not open investigations based on race, or ethnicity, or national origin. But when we open investigations into economic espionage, time and time again, they keep leading back to China."
In July 2020, Wray called the People's Republic of China the "greatest long-term threat" to the United States. He said that "the FBI is now opening a new China-related counterintelligence case every 10 hours. Of the nearly 5,000 active counterintelligence cases currently under way across the country, almost half are related to China." Wray cited the Anthem medical data breach that exposed the personal information of more than 78 million people and the 2017 Equifax data breach that impacted more than 145 million Americans. Wray argued China was trying to become the world's only superpower, supplanting the United States.
In February 2023, Wray appeared in an interview on Fox News endorsing the theory that the COVID-19 virus may have leaked from a laboratory in China. The endorsement comes after the United States Department of Energy and the FBI both released statements saying that it was likely that the virus had come after a lab leak in China. The assessments were made with "low confidence" and "moderate confidence", respectively.
On December 9, 2019, Wray was interviewed by ABC News following the release of the DoJ inspector general's report on the origins of the Russia investigation. In the interview, when asked about characterizations of the FBI and its agents as the "deep state", Wray responded, "I think that's the kind of label that's a disservice to the men and women who work at the FBI who I think tackle their jobs with professionalism, with rigor, with objectivity, with courage. So that's not a term I would ever use to describe our work force and I think it's an affront to them." He said he did not believe the Trump campaign was unfairly targeted by the FBI probe. He also denied that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 presidential elections, stating "We have no information that indicates that Ukraine interfered with the 2016 presidential election" and "as far as the [2020] election itself goes, we think Russia represents the most significant threat". This led Trump to criticize Wray the following day, claiming that Wray would "never be able to fix the FBI."
In April 2022, Wray approved the opening of "Arctic Frost," a sensitive investigative matter examining alleged efforts to submit false electoral certificates following the 2020 presidential election. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco also approved the investigation, pursuant to FBI and DOJ policy for sensitive matters. The investigation was transferred to Special Counsel Jack Smith's oversight in November 2022. Documents released by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley in October 2025 revealed the investigation had issued 197 subpoenas seeking records on approximately 430 Republican individuals and entities, including phone metadata for eight Republican senators. Republican senators characterized the investigation as politically motivated, while Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, stated that "phone-record subpoenas and non-disclosure orders are routine in grand jury investigations."
In January 2023, the FBI Richmond Field Office produced an internal memo identifying "radical traditionalist Catholics" as potential domestic violent extremists. When the memo leaked in February 2023, Wray said he was "aghast" and ordered it withdrawn. In July 2023 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Wray characterized it as "a single product by a single field office," but documents produced 13 days later revealed coordination between Richmond, Portland, and Los Angeles field offices. In December 2023 Senate testimony, Wray stated that all employees involved received formal admonishments affecting their compensation, but no terminations occurred under his leadership. Director Kash Patel later testified in September 2025 that there had been "terminations" and "resignations" related to the memo under his leadership. A July 2025 House Judiciary Committee report stated that over 1,300 pages of documents had been withheld from Congress during Wray's tenure.
After the 2024 presidential election, president-elect Donald Trump indicated that he would fire Wray and seek to replace him with former prosecutor Kash Patel. At that time, Wray had three years left in his 10-year term. On December 11, 2024, Wray announced that he would resign at the conclusion of the Biden presidency, January 20, 2025. The Vacancies Reform Act says that if there is a vacancy in the director of the FBI (or any other Senate-confirmed position), the president must replace the person with a person who has (1) already been confirmed by the Senate or (2) a person who has served in the agency at a senior level (according to the GS-15 pay scale). Commentators have speculated as to whether the Vacancies Reform Act motivated Wray to resign as Paul Abbate (deputy director of the FBI since 2021) or some other person qualified under the Vacancies Reform Act would have to fill the position prior to a Senate confirmation of Patel.
