Biden to keep Wray on as FBI director

President Joe Biden will keep FBI Director Christopher Wray on in that role, White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed on Thursday.

Wray was named to head the bureau in 2017 by former President Donald Trump, who sparked controversy earlier that year by firing former FBI Director James Comey.

News that Biden will leave Wray atop the FBI was first reported by CNN.

The development comes after Psaki was noncommittal at her debut briefing on Wednesday about keeping Wray in place at the FBI, saying she hadn’t spoken to Biden about it. In a tweet Thursday afternoon, Psaki said she "caused an unintentional ripple" on Wednesday.

"Wanted to state very clearly President Biden intends to keep FBI Director Wray on in his role and he has confidence in the job he is doing," Psaki wrote.

Although the president had hinted he would keep Wray on for his 10-year term, questions had reemerged about whether he would stay on after the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol.

Leadership at the FBI has been under the microscope for its response to the Capitol riots. Wray didn't appear publicly for more than a week after the Jan. 6 Capitol takeover, and the Department of Justice announced Friday that it launched an internal review into its handling of the deadly insurrection, examining intelligence and how information was shared.

“The DOJ OIG also will assess whether there are any weaknesses in DOJ protocols, policies, or procedures that adversely affected the ability of DOJ or its components to prepare effectively for and respond to the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6,” the department said in a release.

Although Trump appointed Wray, the relationship between the two men quickly frayed. Trump had pushed Wray to disclose information that could potentially damage Biden politically ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election and Trump's team took issue with Wray's view of antifa as "an ideology” as opposed to an organized group.

In October, an organization representing thousands of FBI agents called on then-president Trump and Biden to keep Wray on for the length of his term.

“While the president can remove an FBI director, doing so could lead to instability and damage to the bureau’s operations, which is why Congress intended to insulate the position of director from political whims,” Brian O’Hare, president of the FBI Agents Association said.

“All interactions with the Biden team have been very positive,” a U.S. government official told POLITICO about Wray’s relationship with the administration.

Daniel Lippman contributed to this report.