SESSIONS IS CHRIS CROSSED
Prez FBI pick is pal of AG’s rival Christie
President Trump’s selection of a former top Justice Department official with ties to Gov. Chris Christie as the next FBI chief was a “warning shot” at embattled Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a source close to the matter told The Post.
Trump revealed his choice of Christopher Wray Wednesday to replace fired FBI Director James Comey, in a surprise, early morning tweet that called Wray “a man of impeccable credentials.”
A source close to the White House said Wray’s selection was meant to send a message to Sessions, who, according to reports, recently offered to resign over Trump’s continued disappointment that he recused himself from the federal probe of Russian meddling in last year’s election.
“If Trump wanted Sessions out, he would have accepted his resignation,” the source said. “But I can’t imagine Sessions is pleased knowing a friend of Christie’s could soon be running the FBI.”
Sessions didn’t play a major role in vetting Wray, even though he reviewed the credentials of other contenders, the source said.
Wray has longstanding ties to the New Jersey governor, who was ousted from Trump’s transition team during a November purge that saw Christie’s former chief of staff replaced as executive director by a top Sessions aide.
Wray and Christie both worked in the Justice Department under then-President George W. Bush, and Christie has said they collaborated “a lot” during a securities-fraud probe of drugmaker Bristol-Meyers Squibb.
Christie later hired Wray as his personal lawyer during the Bridgegate scandal and last week offered a hearty endorsement of him to head the FBI.
“When I was at the absolute lowest point of my professional life, he was who I called. I don't think you can give a better recommendation than that,” Christie said following Trump’s announcement.
In addition to Sessions having survived the transition purge and landed a spot in the Cabinet while Christie was excluded, the two men have publicly clashed over the fiasco involving fired National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.
In April, Sessions insisted neither the transition team nor the White House should be faulted for failing to uncover Flynn’s work as a foreign agent for the Turkish government or the money he received from Russia’s state-owned cable TV network.
Christie, however, last week said he had opposed Flynn from the start, noting: “I made that very clear to candidate Trump, and I made it very clear to President-elect Trump.”
“I think the president could be better served than he’s been served,” Christie added.
Sessions was also unhappy when Trump in March tapped Christie to lead a task force on opioid addiction without consulting him first, according to The New York Times.
Most lawmakers were caught offguard by Trump’s announcement, one day before Comey’s widely anticipated congressional testimony about the events that led to his dismissal last month.
But leading Republicans, and even some Democrats, welcomed it, with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) saying Wray’s “legal credentials and law-enforcement background certainly make him a suitable candidate to lead the FBI.”