FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a "60 Minutes" interview airing Sunday he's retiring early because he didn't want to thrust the Bureau "deeper into the fray" after facing intense criticism from President-elect Trump.

Why it matters: Trump nominated Wray in 2017 for what's typically a 10-year term, but the FBI chief has in recent years been criticized by the Republican leader and his allies over issues related to Trump and President Biden.

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• During the interview, Wray addressed being criticized over FBI investigations by both a Republican and a Democratic president.

Context: The president said after issuing a presidential pardon for his son Hunter Biden following his conviction on felony gun charges and guilty plea on felony tax charges that he believed "raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice."

What he's saying: "This is a hard job. You're inevitably going to make different people angry, often very powerful people," Wray said on "60 Minutes."

• "But part of the essence of the rule of law is to make sure that facts, and the law, and proper predication drive investigations, not who's in power, not who wants it to be so or not so," he told CBS' Scott Pelley.
• On his relationship with Trump souring after the FBI investigated alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election results, Wray said an investigator's job was to "follow the facts wherever they lead, no matter who likes it."

Zoom in: On criticism about Trump's classified documents investigation that saw the FBI searching the Republican leader's Mar-a-Lago home, Wray said the FBI strived to follow the rules throughout, and he believed they did this.

• Wray said a search warrant is "not anybody's first choice" and they always try less intrusive means, like getting information back voluntarily and after that via a subpoena.
• "Only if, after all that, we learn that the agents haven't been given all of the classified material and in fact those efforts have been frustrated, even obstructed, then our agents are left with no choice but to go to a federal judge, make a probable cause showing, and get a search warrant," Wray said.
• "That's what happened here," added Wray, who described himself during the interview as a "conservative Republican."
• He said he hadn't had "any interaction with the Biden White House about investigations into the former president" and neither to his knowledge had anyone else from the FBI.

The bottom line: Wray said in his 7.5 years of experience as FBI chief he'd seen "people often claim to be very interested in independence and objectivity until independence and objectivity lead to an outcome they don't like." 

• He added: "Truth is truth, not necessarily what either side wants it to be. And ultimately all we can do at the FBI is make sure that we stay focused on doing the work in the right way. Following our rules and not letting preferences, partisan or otherwise drive or taint the approach."

Threat level: Wray told Pelley that China's government targeting U.S. civilian critical infrastructure was the biggest threat the incoming Trump administration faced.

• "Things like water treatment plants. We're talking about transportation systems. We're talking about targeting of our energy sector, the electric grid, natural gas pipelines," he said.
• "Recently we've seen targeting of our telecommunications systems.  … we believe that they have collected their content, the actual communications of those people."

Meanwhile, "the most challenging type of terrorist threat we face" is online radicalization from extremist groups.

• Wray noted that the FBI's investigation into the New Orleans New Year's Day terrorist attack indicates at this stage that the suspect was "radicalized online" and he "appears to have been inspired — from afar — by ISIS."

Flashback: House GOP drops plan to hold FBI director in contempt

Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.

• As the mom of two tweens, I really wish schools would keep snow days.
• I have so many great memories from those unexpected magical days growing up.
• I feel like my kids spend too much time on screens for school already; let them have fun.

As temperatures drop, I hope school administrators call for at least one "old-fashioned" snow day this season. I think it's important that kids across the country — including my own two pre-teens — experience the style of snow days that I did growing up, and not because I got to stay inside relaxing. In fact, I learned surprising lessons in those days about history, science, and art.

Lawmakers in states including Iowa, New Jersey, and Virginia have introduced bills to make it easier for districts to replace traditional days off with remote classes. I hope this doesn't become the preference. Kids will lose out if they're robbed of the unexpected time to be curious.

I have fond memories of my snow days

When I think back to the snow days I enjoyed growing up in the 1980s — in the farm-filled New Jersey town of Freehold — I picture long strings of glowing red lights.

My dad would drive my brother and me to Monmouth Battlefield State Park, where lit-up displays at the visitors' center outlined routes that Washington's Army and British soldiers took to get to the bloody battle in which as many as 400 died. We were actually there because the hilly park has become a popular sledding destination, but after we took turns careening toward the woods on our creaky Flexible Flyer, we'd head inside to thaw out and study the displays.

I remember learning about the long battle that took place on a hot day, pondering what it was like for soldiers to battle the elements through the seasons as they battled each other. Reading history in a textbook was one thing; seeing a display or demonstration was more impactful.

I learned a lot while out of the classroom

When winter came, I used to write the forecasts on a wall calendar near my bed. Tracking temperature trends, probabilities, and records is a terrific introduction to the principles of empirical evidence.

One of my best lessons from a snow day was about small joys and art. I was 9 years old, gazing out my kitchen window as I sipped soup, and I spied — on a snow-covered pine — a cardinal sitting sentinel, observing the terrain. The contrast of the red on white was so beautiful that I longed for a camera, but my dad never let me use our cheap Kodak 110. I vowed to get a camera of my own someday, and a few years later, I bought a 35-millimeter with babysitting funds. To this day, I take photos for my job. I love framing and capturing a scene to share the beauty with others.

Nature's handiwork can be surprising, powerful, and treacherous. I want my kids to appreciate all of it. It's hard to watch the snow fall, build with it, and play in it when chained to a Chromebook all day.

It can be hard as a working parent

As a working mom, I understand the nervousness of watching the forecast and wondering about childcare if schools close. Inclement weather days should, of course, be used sparingly. But when safety precautions force a closure anyway, the default shouldn't always be remote learning. Those days can be just as challenging for a caregiver.

Some traditions aren't coming back. I remember the wonder and joy of gazing at the streetlights when a storm was predicted, hoping to catch the first flakes fluttering when it was too dark to see the street. My classmates and I would snuggle in our beds the next morning, listening to our clock radios to see if our district would be on the list of closings read by the announcer. Parents also had not-so-reliable phone trees to spread the word decades before robocalls. But even with communication becoming less personal, I've observed the magical reactions of kids who realize they're getting a snow day; I actually heard cheering outside my window last February when our district made the announcement via email in advance of a storm the next day.

I think schools are over-relying on technology in general. I was disappointed this past summer when one of my kids was expected to do all of the summer assignments on a Chromebook, including the actual reading. I placed an order for the physical book anyway. Kids spend enough time stuck to their screens. If a day comes this winter when it's unsafe to go out, let them have their magical time to explore and dream — at least once.

The New York Mets could be forced to watch Jose Quintana bolt in free agency for a one-year deal with the Toronto Blue Jays.

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Green Bay Packers center Josh Myers has been carted off the field after an apparent leg injury during the Wild Card game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

• Andrew Taylor, 70, left the US to retire in Malaysia a decade ago.
• He now lives in a 2-bedroom condo in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city, that costs about $620 a month.
• "I probably would not be retired if I were still in the US," Taylor said.

At 60, Andrew Taylor retired and left the US to move to Malaysia.

Taylor, who used to do administrative work, started thinking about retirement when he was in his mid-fifties. However, the high cost of living in the US made it feel like a pipe dream.

"I realized that I was probably not going to be able to stay in the United States, or I was going to have to work until I was 80," Taylor, now 70, told Business Insider.

He started considering retiring abroad, and it was through his then-partner — who lived in Penang — that he first learned about the Malaysia My Second Home, or MM2H, visa program. The MM2H program was introduced by the government in 2002 to attract foreigners to retire and live in Malaysia.

The conditions for the visa have been tightened over the years.

Based on the most recent rule changes announced in 2024, there are now three different categories: Platinum, Gold, and Silver. Depending on the category of visa they apply for, applicants are required to have minimum bank deposits of between $150,000 and $1 million and also buy property in Malaysia. The validity of the visa ranges from 5 years to 20 years.

Having visited multiple times before, the idea of living in Malaysia appealed to him. He said he saw the visa program as something that could help him retire much earlier.

In late 2014, he applied and was approved a few months later. In 2015, Andrew packed up his bags and moved from Washington, D.C. — where he had lived for 40 years — to start the next chapter of his life.

Creating a dream apartment in the city

It's been 10 years since Taylor arrived in Malaysia. He spent seven years in Penang, a state in northwest Malaysia, before moving to Kuala Lumpur, the capital city, three years ago.

He's been in his current rental — a two-bedroom condo — for about five months.

Taylor said that his previous unit was on two floors, and he had to climb 20 steps to reach the bedroom. "I'm 70 and the stairs are irritating to me now, so I want it to be all on one floor," he said.

Taylor says he took just one weekend to find his apartment, which was about two miles outside the city center. The view of the city immediately caught his attention.

"I'm on the 22nd floor, and I can see the Twin Towers. I can see all the major towers in KL, and it's just a beautiful view. I think if I'm going to be in KL, that's what I wanted," Taylor said.

His rent costs 2,800 Malaysian ringgit, or $620, each month. It's a two-year lease with an option for a third year. Unlike his previous apartments, he opted for an unfurnished unit this time.

"I really never liked the furniture in the apartments that I was renting," he said, adding that he has always been interested in interior design. Most of his furniture is sourced locally.

"It's sort of eclectic," he said, describing his apartment. "I have oriental carpets and things like that, but with modern furniture."

His apartment block is part of a five-building condo development, which offers amenities like a pool and a gym.

This is Taylor's fifth apartment in Malaysia, and he says he plans to continue renting and riding around the city on his Vespa for the foreseeable future.

Lessons learned along the way have contributed to his decision. The first place he moved into after arriving in Malaysia was on the 35th floor of a building in Penang.

"The landlord said, 'Oh, they'll never build in front of it.' Well, yes, they built right in front of it immediately," he said. "If you buy a place, it's just harder to move on."

Americans are retiring abroad

Taylor isn't alone in his decision to retire abroad.

Analyses in the past year have estimated that a single person would need to earn $96,000 a year to live comfortably in many major US cities. It comes as no surprise that more and more Americans are being priced out of the US.

There's also a retirement crisis sweeping across the nation, with more people over 65 still punching the clock because they can't afford to retire.

An AARP survey of 8,368 people conducted in January 2024 found that 1 in 5 Americans 50 and over reported having no retirement savings. Over half of them also said they do not think they'll have enough money to keep them afloat in retirement.

It's a sentiment that Taylor shares. "I probably would not be retired if I were still in the US," he said.

In contrast, the MM2H visa has made Malaysia an attractive destination for expats.

As of January 2024, there were 56,066 active MM2H pass holders in the country, Malaysia's Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Tiong King Sin said during a parliament session, per local paper The Star. Chinese nationals form about 44% of pass holders, followed by those from South Korea and Japan. There were 1,340 pass holders from the US. The ministry did not respond to a request for comment sent by BI.

'Pretty similar' lifestyles in both countries

While Taylor's lifestyle in Malaysia is "pretty similar" to the one he had back in the States, the lower cost of living here means that his money can go further each month.

"I would say I used to try to keep my budget to $2,000. Now it's a little bit more than that. I would say $2,500 is what I live on now," Taylor said, adding that he doesn't think he could live on the same amount back in the US.

He has a basic health insurance policy that costs 340 Malaysian ringgit each month.

"There are other much better policies, but I went with the cheap option," Taylor said. He says it only covers hospitalization and related costs.

He's also satisfied with Malaysia's healthcare facilities.

"And you don't have to wait long for an appointment or wait long at your appointment," he added.

Cost of living aside, Taylor says he also feels safer in Malaysia.

"I've never felt safer anywhere. Where I lived in my last place outside D.C., sometimes I would hear gunshots from outside my window, and that just is so foreign here. There's nothing like that," he said. "I've never ever felt any uncomfortable feeling when I'm out, even alone walking around."

These days, Taylor spends his time filming YouTube videos about what it's like to live in Malaysia.

However, he says that such a drastic move might not be for everyone — especially for those who have children, grandchildren, or even aged parents. It only worked for him because he had loose family connections.

Looking back, Taylor says he's learned not to be afraid of living outside his comfort zone.

"My family thought I would last about six months, and then I would come back. 10 years later, and I'm still here, and I have no intention of ever going back to the US," he said.

Have you recently relocated to a new country and found your dream home? If you have a story to share, contact this reporter at [email protected].

• Shruti Dhumak navigated maternity leave amid Google's AI industry shift and layoffs.
• She split her leave to maintain visibility and manage family support from India.
• Dhumak focused on self-improvement and open communication to regain her work efficiency.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Shruti Dhumak, a cloud customer engineer in Google's Boston office who gave birth in February 2023. It has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified her employment history.

Before I had my son, I always doubted how I was going to manage being this overly ambitious person with motherhood.

I've been with Google for about four years. I had my first child in February 2022 and split up my maternity leave in three phases to make the most of temporary support I had when my family visited.

Between Google's policy of six months of maternity leave, one month of prepartum leave, and one month of paid time off, I had a total of eight months of time away from work. I knew I was fortunate to have this time off because it is rare in the US, but going on leave and the anxiety of being replaced while I was away was one of the hardest things I have dealt with.

I'm a customer engineer, and a large part of my role revolves around managing relationships with our cloud clients. If someone takes over for me, the customers end up being closer to that representative and I risk losing my accounts to someone else.

I was also paranoid that my absence or my performance below my peak, once I returned, would make me more susceptible to a layoff. Two weeks before my delivery, Google announced its biggest, 12,000-people layoff. As someone on an H1-B visa, a layoff would mean I would have to find another job in a matter of weeks or risk having to move back to India with a newborn.

When I came back to work, I was not a hundred percent myself — not as a person and not as an employee. I was not a hundred percent efficient. I've had my moments where I broke down and lost my train of thought during a call.

Despite my efforts, some other senior people were preferred by the business partners for some responsibilities. To add to it, Google was entering the artificial intelligence industry. Being away months felt like I was behind by many years.

But I was able to turn my performance around. In 2024, I got awards for my performance, and it's just the opposite of how last year went.

There were four things I did to make the transition easier on myself:

1. Split up my leave

Google offers employees the flexibility to take their maternity leave for up to a year after the baby is born. I broke up my leave into three stages, which allowed me to come back to work periodically to ensure I was visible and my work was not forgotten.

I took my first break a month before the baby was born. I returned in my third month after the delivery and went back on leave in the months of September, November, December and January. It was designed based on who was there to help me with the child throughout the year — first my parents and then my in-laws.

2. Highlight my work

Nobody is going to talk about me until I do, which is something I have struggled with in my previous companies.

I made sure to speak up when things weren't going right and made sure to collect evidence of my efforts and achievements.

I took advantage of the help I had and spent evenings and weekends taking exams and completing certifications to upskill myself and show others that I was coming up to speed.

3. Have open, honest conversations

What helped me through the year was my manager. She saw what was happening when I missed things because I've been a good performer all these years.

I shared everything with her openly during one-on-ones, which helped because she understood my challenges. She also helped me maintain visibility with upper management, because Google is strict with grades and the ratings you get.

It made a world of a difference to have a female manager and a work culture where men could empathize, too. My job involves a lot of talking and explaining, and I suffered from shortness of breath during my third trimester. My male counterparts recognized this and asked me to take breaks and go off-camera, which helped me work until the day I left for leave.

I also built my network and spoke to women who are managers in other teams in the company. Women who have been outperformers shared their experiences crying secretly after they became parents, and nobody said they had it all sorted out. Now, I share my journey with others.

4. Taking it one day at a time

During the wave of tech layoffs in 2022, I had at least three close friends who were laid off from Google, Microsoft, and Meta, which lingered on my mind and made me paranoid about my own situation.

The stress and postpartum depression is not behind me, but I decided to take it one day at a time.

I decided to be laser-focused and do things as they come up. There have been times I feel like delaying a reply but do it anyway, because I know it could lead to more tasks that I can add to my annual review.

Do you work in Big Tech and have a tip or story to share? Please reach out at [email protected].

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• Wendy Altschuler has traveled around the world with her husband and three sons.
• Her kids agree that Japan has been their favorite destination.
• Sumo wrestling was the highlight of their trip.

My kids have been fortunate to enjoy the benefits of my main work perk as a longtime travel writer: accumulating airline miles.

Of all of the places we've traveled around the world — including Peru, Greece, Dominican Republic, Thailand, India, Singapore, UAE, and Aruba — Japan remains the absolute favorite for all three of my boys.

During our summertime trip to Japan, we explored incense-heavy shrines, wandered through gardens bursting with hydrangeas, marveled at castles, indulged in street food, met wild monkeys, and sauntered through a bamboo forest. The kids made it clear that Japan lights up all five of your senses — no matter what age you are.

We all enjoyed finding a beach full of smooth pottery pieces, remnants from a long-ago shipwreck; and watching a crazy robot show in Tokyo with swirling lights and loud music while eating dinner.

But the highlight of their trip was learning about sumo wrestling.

The whole family tried sumo wrestling

In Nara, near Kyoto and Osaka, we encountered sacred deer that bowed when we fed them crackers. It was near there, at the foot of Mt. Nijo in Katsuragi City, where I had another quest for my boys — to learn about Japan's oldest sport: Sumo wrestling.

Katsuragi is the origin of sumo, Japan's national sport with 1,500 years of history. At Kehayaza Sumo Museum, we took our shoes off and sat in a box seat on top of cushions to watch.

We were the sole spectators at the event that aims to educate visitors on the art of sumo. Rather than attend a Grand Sumo Tournament, which can be difficult to visit with only six tournaments held each year, the museum is much more open, affordable, and accessible for families on a year-round basis.

There was beautiful singing, a display of flags, and rice throwing to purify the elevated ring, which was made of clay and covered in rough sand. Two massive rikishi, or sumo wrestlers, entered the circular ring, the dohyo, wearing only a mawashi, or loin cloth. We observed as the two athletes lifted and stomped each leg, slapped their stomachs, and prepared for the match.

They learned about Japanese culture

Sumo originated as a ritual dance to entertain the gods at shrine festivals. Nowadays, professional sumo has six divisions. Wrestlers move up the ranks depending on their skill, and their pay increases as they progress and evolve. The Grand Champion, or Yokozuna, is an exclusive title that can earn the wrestler 2.8 million yen, or $18,000 per month, per the South China Morning Post.

Tickets for standard seats to the tournaments start at around 2,500 yen and go up to around 20,000 yen for ringside seats. Box seats, which accommodate four people, can cost up to 60,000 yen per box.

A benefit of visiting the museum is that entrance is free for visitors with foreign passports.

We all stepped into the ring

With eyes wide, my boys were dialed in as the straight-faced men collided while endeavoring to push each other to the ground or out of the ring to win the match. We were told that in sumo, often, the opponents aren't the same size or weight, like in American boxing, which allows spectators to root for an underdog.

After the match, my husband was asked if he wanted to try. He cautiously stepped into the ring with the largest of the two wrestlers and went through the entire ritual — tossing the rice in the air, bowing, clapping, crouching down with his fists on the ground, mirroring the correct footwork, and facing his opponent. I went next. Then each of my boys got a chance to test their mettle.

While a referee — dressed in a long red and gold robe, black pointed hat, white belt, and holding a small paper fan — officiated, my boys followed the ceremonial tasks and squared off with their skilled challenger. I'll never forget how the athlete, who seemed so imposing when he was brawling with his opponent, morphed into a playful fellow when my kids each entered the ring.

When the near-naked wrestler picked up my firstborn son, who was 12 at the time, and swung him around by his mawashi, I roared with laughter. I still smile when I think about how high-pitched the wrestler's giggle was, completely contrasting his size and power.

My youngest pressed firmly into his challenger's belly, not moving him an inch, and then, par for the course, he became airborne, just like his older brother. My middle son took a different strategy: he stood on his tippy toes and went for the shoulders, attempting to drive his adversary off balance.

The final match was unfair: all three boys were against their dad. After the match, we thanked the sumo wrestlers for the immersive education.

Later, at home, I organized a postcard writing project in which short travel stories were mailed to isolated seniors. My youngest wrote about getting in the ring with a 400-pound sumo wrestler in Japan: "I was only 8, I obviously lost."

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• With Trump's inauguration fast approaching, more details about DOGE have emerged.
• Musk, who Trump tapped to co-lead DOGE, may become a "special government employee."
• SGEs have less stringent ethics rules — to a degree — compared to regular federal employees.

With President-elect Donald Trump set to take office next week, a key detail has emerged regarding the Department of Government Efficiency, the forthcoming commission that Tesla CEO Elon Musk will co-lead alongside businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.

Some DOGE staffers who are expected to work unpaid for six months before returning to their more lucrative jobs would be classified as "special government employees," and Musk could be among them, The New York Times reported.

A special government employee is an individual who can be paid or unpaid and is categorized as a temporary worker. The federal government can employ that individual for no more than 130 days amid a consecutive 365-day span.

The designation is significant because special government employees — who are generally brought in to offer outside expertise to the federal government — are subject to more limited conflict of interest rules compared to regular federal employees.

When Trump tapped Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, to co-lead DOGE, government watchdogs, and some Democratic politicians questioned how he could handle such a role given potential conflicts of interest involving SpaceX, Tesla, and X.

Musk's omnipresence within Trump's political orbit in recent months has only reinforced those concerns. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts sent a letter to Trump's transition team asking if the tech executive would adhere to conflict-of-interest rules in his forthcoming role.

"Putting Mr. Musk in a position to influence billions of dollars of government contracts and regulatory enforcement without a stringent conflict of interest agreement in place is an invitation for corruption on a scale not seen in our lifetimes," Warren wrote at the time.

"Currently, the American public has no way of knowing whether the advice that he is whispering to you in secret is good for the country — or merely good for his own bottom line," she added.

Musk in 2024 spent over $250 million to help send Trump back to the White House and aid other GOP candidates in their respective races.

Business Insider reached out to Trump's transition team for comment.

• A former Disney employee agreed to plead guilty to altering allergen info on restaurant menus.
• Michael Scheuer admitted to the hack, as well as adding swastikas to the memus.
• He faces up to 10 years in prison for his charges, according to the plea agreement.

A former menu production manager for Disney World has admitted to altering allergen information and adding swastikas to menus as part of a plea agreement.

Federal authorities charged Michael Scheuer in October with causing the transmission of a program, information, code, or command to a protected computer and intentionally causing damage. Disney had fired Scheuer months earlier for misconduct, according to the criminal complaint.

In a plea agreement filed Friday in Florida federal court, first reported by Court Watch, Scheuer pleaded guilty to hacking and one count of aggravated identity theft. He faces a maximum of 10 years and a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for the charges.

The plea says the government agreed to recommend that Scheuer receive a downward adjustment on the length of his sentence for agreeing to take responsibility for the charges.

Scheuer also agreed to pay restitution to his victims, including Disney.

The agreement says that Scheuer changed allergen information on some of Disney's menus to falsely show that items were safe for people with allergies, which "could have had fatal consequences depending on the type and severity of the customer's allergy."

Scheuer also admitted to changing the regions of wines on some menus, some of which he changed to the locations of mass shootings, the plea agreement says.

"Scheuer also added or embedded images to one or more menus, including in one instance a swastika," the document says.

On some Disney menus that contained a QR code to show a digital version of the menu, Scheuer changed the code to direct to a website promoting the boycott of Israel, the document says. Manufacturers printed some menus with the falsified QR codes, but caught the change before they were distributed.

By the end of his hacking campaign, Scheuer had impacted "nearly every menu in the system," according to court documents.

"The entire repository of menus had to be reverted to older versions and brought up to date manually," the agreement says.

Scheuer's attorney, David Haas, did not immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider. Haas told CNBC that Scheuer is "prepared to accept responsibility for his conduct."

"Unfortunately, he has mental health issues that were exacerbated when Disney fired him upon his return from paternity leave," he told the outlet.

Disney did not immediately return a request for comment about Scheuer's plea agreement.

Disney became embroiled in a separate controversy involving food allergens in 2024 when a widowed husband filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the entertainment giant. The lawsuit said the man's wife experienced a "severe acute allergic reaction" and died after eating at a restaurant operated at Disney Springs.

Lawyers for Disney asked an Orange County court to dismiss the lawsuit because the husband previously purchased theme park tickets and signed up for a free Disney+ trial, but criticism from the public caused them to reverse course.