When news broke on Wednesday that FBI Director Christopher Wray intends to resign before Donald Trump takes over in January, the cast of CNN News Central was distressed. Rather than claiming that everything that led up to Trump’s intention to fire Wray, the cast claimed the idea that Wray would need to resign before Trump takes office was what was a sign of the Bureau’s “politicization.”
Senior justice correspondent Evan Perez reported that not everyone inside the Bureau was thrilled with Wray’s decision, and judging by his reaction, Perez agreed with them, “There also was pushback from people inside this building, also from people at the FBI, which is not normalizing what Donald Trump is doing, which is to just habitually replace FBI directors that he doesn't like. These people are supposed to serve ten-year terms for a reason, to try to remove them from the influence of politics, and here, Donald Trump is now about to have his second FBI director, in this case with Christopher Wray pushing him out ahead of the time that he takes office.”
The 10-year term is clearly at odds with the idea of separation of powers. The only reason the courts haven’t nuked it yet is precisely because the president can fire the director any time he wants.
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