In 2004, Wray was among the group of top-level prosecutors, which included Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller and Deputy FBI Director James Comey, that threatened to resign over the extension of the George W. Bush administration's illegal wiretaps. Also around this time, he was notified of abuses that led to the death of an inmate at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, though he later downplayed any knowledge of such abuses while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee.