President Trump said Wednesday morning he plans to nominate Christopher A. Wray, a former assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s criminal division, to lead the FBI.
“I will be nominating Christopher A. Wray, a man of impeccable credentials, to be the new Director of the FBI. Details to follow,” Trump said on Twitter.
I will be nominating Christopher A. Wray, a man of impeccable credentials, to be the new Director of the FBI. Details to follow.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 7, 2017
Wray would succeed former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by Trump last month.
The former assistant attorney general was confirmed by voice vote in the Senate in 2003, and led the Justice Department’s Criminal Division for two years.
He is currently a partner at the King and Spaulding law firm, and was New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s personal lawyer. He represented Christie in the “bridgegate” scandal, in which two of Christie’s aides were given prison sentences after closing down a bridge in an act of political retribution against a Christie opponent.
Wray visited the White House on May 30, according to a database of White House visitor logs maintained by Politico.
He graduated from Yale University in 1989 and received his law degree from Yale Law School in 1992.
Trump’s announcement of his intent to nominate Wray came just one day before Comey is scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on the bureau’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
After Comey was fired, the Justice Department appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to serve as special counsel and oversee the probe.
A number of names were floated for FBI director, including former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who was at one point the frontrunner. But Democrats disagreed with Lieberman as the potential director of the FBI because of his political background, and many wanted to see the president select someone with a background in law enforcement.
Lieberman ultimately removed his name from consideration to avoid any conflict of interest, as the former senator works at the same law firm as Marc Kasowitz, Trump’s outside counsel for the Russia probe.
