Welcome to the News Hour. In a highly unusual move, the director of the FBI is stepping down.

Christopher Ray announced today that he intends to leave his position when President-elect Donald Trump

takes office in January. That comes after Mr. Trump named Cash Patel as his nominee to run the FBI,

despite the fact that Trump was the one who appointed Ray, and Ray

was serving a 10-year term that wasn't set to end until 2027. Speaking to FBI employees,

Ray addressed his decision to resign. My goal is to keep the focus on our mission, on the

indispensable work each of you is doing every single

day. And in my view, this is the best way to avoid dragging the Bureau deeper into the

fray while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important in how we do our work.

Our White House correspondent Laura Barone Lopez has been following the developments and joins us now.

So Laura, what else did Chris Ray say in those remarks?

And why did he decide to announce this and step down?

The FBI director, Ray, was faced with two options on Omna, either resign or be faced with firing by

President-elect Donald Trump. And FBI director Ray said that this decision came after weeks of careful

thought. And much of the FBI's work, Omna, is far afield from politics, and that was something

that the FBI director spoke about today. You know, this is an apolitical organization,

and he talked a lot about the mission of the Bureau today in his remarks.

Our dedication to independence and objectivity

and our defense of the rule of law,

those fundamental aspects of who we are must never change.

That's the real strength of the FBI, the importance of our mission, the quality of our people,

and their dedication to service over self.

...