Writing a farewell speech is kind of like writing your own eulogy, right?

One last attempt to define your legacy and to shape the world that you're leaving behind.

So it is worth paying attention to what FBI director Christopher Ray told his employees on Wednesday

when he announced that he would resign at the end of the Biden administration.

What absolutely positively cannot, must not change is our commitment to doing the right thing

in the right way every time, our adherence to our core values, our dedication to independence

and objectivity, and our defense of the rule of law.

President-elect Donald Trump saw Ray's tenure very differently. He called Ray's resignation a great

day for America, the end of the, quote, weaponization of the Justice Department. And he had

already announced another pick for FBI director,

implying that Ray would be fired at the start of Trump's second term. But the thing is,

Trump gave Christopher Ray the job in the first place. Trump nominated him back in 2017 because he

had just fired Ray's predecessor James Comey.

Trump's explanation for that firing changed over time.

In an interview with NBC, he said Comey was a grandstander who had left the agency in turmoil.

But he also said this.

When I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump

and Russia is a made-up story. It's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election.

At the time, the FBI had been investigating potential collusion between Russia and the Trump

campaign during the 2016 election. Trump insisted that he was not trying to kill that investigation.

FBI directors are appointed to a tenure term that is meant to insulate them from pressure from the president.

So after Trump cut Comey's terms short, the question of independence

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