Senate confirms Christopher Wray as FBI director
New FBI Director Christopher Wray
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed former King & Spalding partner Christopher Wray to become director of the FBI.
The vote was 92-5 in favor of confirmation, the Washington Post reports. Politico and the New York Times also have stories.
Wray replaces James Comey, who was fired May 9 by President Donald Trump. During his confirmation hearing, Wray pledged independence.
“There is not a person on this planet whose lobbying or influence could cause me to drop a meritorious and properly predicated investigation,” he said.
Wray is a Yale University law grad and former federal prosecutor who later headed the Justice Department’s criminal division in the George W. Bush administration. According to his financial disclosure form, Wray earned $9.2 million from his law firm partnership share since January 2016.
Andrew McCabe, who has been serving as acting FBI director, has been criticized by Trump because of his wife’s ties to a political action committee linked to an ally of Hillary Clinton.
Problem is that the acting head of the FBI & the person in charge of the Hillary investigation, Andrew McCabe, got $700,000 from H for wife!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017
It’s unclear if Wray will keep McCabe as his deputy director, according to the Times. Keeping McCabe could anger Trump, but demoting him could be an unpopular move within the FBI, according to the story.
