People who have worked with Christopher Wray, President Trump’s pick for FBI director, say he is an accomplished, principled and low-key lawyer who won’t hesitate to stand up to the president.
Wray, 50, white-collar criminal defense attorney, previously led the Justice Department’s Criminal Division during two years — 2003 to 2005 — of President George W. Bush’s administration.
John Richter was Wray’s chief of staff — his No. 2 man — in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and has worked with Wray at King & Spalding, their current employer, for the last four years.
“Chris has what it takes in terms of experience, judgement, discretion and the absolute integrity that is needed for the job during a time in which all Americans want to look to the FBI and know there is an adult at the helm,” Richter told the Washington Examiner in an interview.
“Chris is a serious-minded, experienced prosecutor and lawyer with all the intangibles and character needed to make sure the FBI fulfills its mission in the way that everyone believes is appropriate. He is the right man at the right time for the FBI.”
Wray’s quiet rise to become Trump’s choice for FBI director fits this personality and approach, Richter and others told the Washington Examienr.
Trump oversaw a chaotic process to find his choice for the next FBI director after he fired James Comey last month.
The original front-runner for the job, former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, dropped out of the race after Democrats criticized his political credentials. Shortly before Lieberman dropped out, Trump “reset” the process and it appears Wray was a benefactor of that decision.
Richter said Wray was approached by the White House about the FBI director position only recently, and he was not in the initial list of names considered by Trump.
“If you had asked me two weeks ago if Chris was going to serve in this administration or be the FBI director, I would have said, I certainly don’t expect that,” Richter said. “He was perfectly comfortable and well placed in what he was doing. He was in a perfectly happy place in his life.”
Wray, born in Manhattan, resides primarily in Atlanta with his wife, Helen, and their two children. The couple met at Yale University, where Wray went to undergraduate and law school and was a member of the rowing team.
In private practice, Wray’s most recent work life — Richter and others who know Wray say he doesn’t have much of a personal life (he likes to work out and read) — has included a stint as attorney for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican and Trump ally.
Wray represented Christie in the “bridgegate” scandal, in which two of Christie’s aides were given prison sentences after closing down the George Washington Bridge in an act of political retribution against a Christie opponent.
That work relationship will likely be challenged by Democrats, who will be especially attuned to the independence of the next FBI director at the time the bureau is investigating Russia’s meddling in the U.S. election, and any potential collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
Wray, if confirmed, would not oversee that probe because the Justice Department appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to serve as special counsel to oversee the Russian investigation.
But skeptics will still want to know how independently Wray would lead the FBI’s rank and file, many of whom were loyal to Comey and concerned about the apparent politics surrounding his firing.
Oliver Halle, a retired FBI special agent based in Atlanta, worked closely with Wray when the latter was assistant U.S. attorney for the northern district of Georgia from 1997 to 2001.
Halle described a case he worked on with Wray and Sally Yates, the former deputy attorney general and acting attorney general who Trump fired after she refused to defend the president’s travel ban in court.
Yates was an assistant U.S. attorney in Atlanta when she called on Wray to help prosecute former Atlanta Braves pitcher and Dekalb County Sheriff Pat Jarvis. In January 1999, Jarvis pleaded guilty to fraud for schemes that included receiving cash payments, charging bogus ”consulting” fees, creating shell companies and using his position for financial gain, according to federal prosecutors.
“Chris [Wray] had a very important role in that case, and Yates, with tough questioning, got Jarvis to admit he lied under oath,” Halle told the Washington Examiner in an interview. “I learned from that case that you can’t rattle Chris. When the stress is really on, you can’t rattle him. I like that about people. I am a military person.”
Halle said the case demonstrates Wray’s nonpartisan credentials.
“I don’t look at Chris Wray as a political person,” Halle said. “I have never seen a political side to him. He must have a little bit of one, but nothing I have ever seen or heard. Chris is an invisible guy, a quiet guy, and he doesn’t go out and seek publicity.”
However, Wray has donated consistently to Republicans over the years.
He did not give money during the 2016 election, but he has donated to Republican presidential nominees, including $2,300 to Sen. John McCain of Arizona in 2008 and to $7,500 to Mitt Romney in 2012. Wray has also gave money to Tom Price, secretary of Health and Human Services, during his House campaign.
In addition, Wray once clerked for J. Michael Luttig, a former conservative judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
“Chris [Wray] is a Republican,” said John Malcolm, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation who was a deputy to Wray in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in 2003.
“But he is a fair guy,” Malcolm said. “When he conducts investigations, he will do so in a nonpartisan manner. He is well aware of the fact that the FBI serves the nation as the chief law enforcement agency and he will conduct himself accordingly.”
Richter defended Wray’s association with Christie, describing his work for the New Jersey governor as routine business.
“Chris [Wray] is a lawyer,” Richter said. “That’s his job. He has been called in private practice to defend people in all kinds of circumstances. Chris Christie faced a problem. It’s not surprising he would go to one of finest lawyers in the U.S. to help him counsel him.”
Richter said Wray would not have a problem ceding authority to Mueller in the Russia case.
Wray worked directly with Mueller at the Justice Department. Richter said Wray and Mueller took similar paths to become director of the FBI. Mueller, a former FBI director who served a record-long tenure, was in charge of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division 15 years before Wray took on the job.
Wray also played a central role with Mueller and Comey in their face-off with the George W. Bush White House over the constitutionality of an National Security Agency surveillance program known as STELLAR WIND.
Wray worked closely with Comey when Wray was in the Justice Department. Comey was deputy attorney general — and Wray’s direct boss — when Wray led the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
“Chris [Wray] has the pedigree very similar to Bob [Mueller],” Richter said. “The fact Chris is willing to step away from a comfortable existence and serve the public is a testament to what he is made of. He is in this for all the right reasons — to serve his country and to make sure the fine men and women at the bureau are well-led now and in the future.”
