Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson suggested Thursday that President-elect Trump should try to keep current FBI Director Christopher Wray on through his inauguration, following suspected terror attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas on New Year’s Day.
Johnson said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that “it does feel as though there’s a new security threat environment out there,” referencing an attack in New Orleans that left more than a dozen dead and the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck in front of a Trump hotel in Las Vegas, which killed the driver and injured others.
“We’ve got the inauguration approaching,” Johnson told MSNBC’s Jonathan Lemire. “I heard this morning there’s a rally that President-elect Trump is planning to have before the inauguration, and then, of course, [you] have the Super Bowl a few weeks after that, which, to me, suggests that [the] president-elect should consider asking the current FBI director, Chris Wray, to stay on and not leave on Jan. 20.”
“Stay on through the inauguration, stay on through the Super Bowl, which itself is a huge security environment,” he added.
Wray announced in mid-December that he plans to resign from the FBI when Biden leaves office, with Trump planning to replace him with Kash Patel, who is among the incoming president’s most controversial appointments.
It’s unclear how long Patel’s confirmation might take, or whether some in the GOP might block his path. Patel has met with a number of GOP senators, but no date has been set for his Senate hearings. If Wray exits with Biden, Trump will likely need to appoint a new director in an interim capacity.
William Webster, the only man to lead both the FBI and CIA, is among a chorus of voices warning against Patel and Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for intelligence director, serving in such senior roles, saying both positions require “complete independence from political influence.”
Johnson said now “is not the time to see our FBI director walking out the door in 18 days.”
“This is not a moment where you should have that kind of transition, where the director, who’s been there for seven years, is walking out the door, a new director’s gotta come in, orientation, briefings and so forth,” Johnson added later.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment.
