WASHINGTON In 2004, shortly after James Comey rushed to the hospital to stop Bush White House officials from trying to get a bedridden John Ashcroft to reauthorize a surveillance program Comey believed was illegal, another top Department of Justice official stopped him in the hallway.

The DOJ official had gotten wind that a group of his senior colleagues, including Comey and FBI Director Robert Mueller, were contemplating resigning. He told Comey that he would leave the department if they did.

Look, I dont know whats going on, but before you guys all pull the rip cords, please give me a heads-up so I can jump with you, Christopher Wray, the assistant attorney general who ran the departments criminal division, told Comey, according to a 2007 report in The Washington Post.

Comey went on to become director of the FBI, but President Donald Trump fired him in May as the agency investigated possible collusion between Trump officials and Russia. On Wednesday, the president announced via Twitter that he would nominate Wray to succeed Comey .