While Mr. Wray didn’t address the Mar-a-Lago search in the interview, people familiar with the matter say he was involved in weeks of discussions with Attorney General Merrick Garland and other senior DOJ and FBI officials about the decision to execute the search warrant at Mr. Trump’s Florida home. They said Mr. Wray came to believe it was a step that had to be taken to recover classified documents there…

Mr. Wray has said he is seeking to restore “a bit of calm and normality” to the bureau after a turbulent time, and his preference is to let the FBI’s investigative work speak for itself while showcasing its initiatives. Last month, for instance, he flew to London to issue a joint warning with the head of Britain’s domestic security service about the industrial espionage threat posed by the Chinese government, and to New York with the National Security Agency director to warn that Russia posed a potential threat to the November midterm elections. China has denied wrongdoing, and Russia has denied interfering in U.S. elections…

Mr. Wray’s low-key approach has drawn the support of many agents, said Brian O’Hare, the president of the FBI Agents Association, whose members are current and retired agents. Others say it won’t be sustainable in the current politically heated environment and that he might need to be more vociferous in defending the bureau and articulating his rationales for action.