Trump chooses Christopher Wray for FBI director
Christopher Wray (Courtesy King & Spalding)
President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that he will nominate King & Spalding partner Christopher Wray to be FBI director.
The New York Times calls Wray, a former Department of Justice lawyer, a “safe, mainstream pick from a president who at one point was considering politicians" for the job.
Wray formerly oversaw the Justice Department’s criminal division in the George W. Bush administration. He has also been the personal lawyer for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the Washington Post reports.
Trump’s tweet described Wray as “a man of impeccable credentials.”
Wray is chair of King & Spalding’s special matters and government investigations practice group, which represents clients in white-collar criminal and regulatory enforcement matters. He represented Christie during an internal Bridgegate investigation into a politically motivated scheme to close the George Washington Bridge that found Christie wasn’t involved.
Wray was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia from 1997 to 2001. He joined the Justice Department as associate deputy attorney general in 2001 and was appointed the principal associate deputy attorney general four months later. He served as head of the criminal division from 2003 to 2005. He is a graduate of Yale Law School.
Trump’s announcement comes a day before congressional testimony by fired FBI director James Comey.
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
Updated at 7:50 a.m. to correct typos.
