Trump nominates Wray for FBI
WASHINGTON — When James Comey and Robert Mueller threatened to quit the Bush administration over a controversial surveillance program in 2004, a lesserknown Justice Department figure offered to join their protest: Christopher Wray, the government’s top criminal prosecutor.
Mueller was the FBI director at the time. Comey succeeded him. And Wednesday, President Donald Trump said he would nominate Wray as the next FBI director, tapping a veteran Washington lawyer who is much more low-key and deliberative than Mueller and Comey but who shares their integrity, friends and former colleagues say.
“He’s not flashy. He’s not showy. He’s understated,” said J. Michael Luttig, a former judge who hired Wray as a law clerk in 1992.
Those who know Wray say his willingness to quit the Justice Department more than a decade ago as a matter of principle shows he will brush back any political interference and protect the bureau’s independence.
That willingness is certain to come up at his confirmation hearing. Trump has repeatedly interjected himself into criminal justice matters in ways that previous presidents have avoided.
Wray, 50, has been serving as a lawyer with King & Spalding, a law firm that advises Trump’s family real estate empire, and defended Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey — a Trump ally — in the so-called Bridgegate scandal.
That concerns some civilliberties organizations.
“Christopher Wray’s firm’s legal work for the Trump family, his history of partisan activity, as well as his history of defending Trump’s transition director during a criminal scandal makes us question his ability to lead the FBI with the independence, evenhanded judgment, and commitment to the rule of law that the agency deserves,” said Faiz Shakir, national political director of the American Civil Liberties Union, referring to Christie and the Bridgegate case.
But FBI agents will most likely greet Wray as a positive choice. Many agents were concerned that Trump was considering politicians for a job that had previously been insulated from partisan politics.
“This is a good choice,” said Chris Swecker, a former FBI agent who was once head of the agency’s criminal investigations division. He described Wray, who once ran the Justice Department’s criminal prosecutions division, as unswayed by politics.
Swecker also said Wray was unafraid to pursue sensitive corruption cases that included prosecutions of disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former Reps. Randy Cunningham and William J. Jefferson.
The president revealed his decision in an early morning tweet without alerting members of Congress. Hours after the Twitter post, the White House followed up with an official statement in which Trump called Wray “an impeccably qualified individual,” citing his role in major fraud investigations and antiterrorism efforts at the Justice Department after the 9/11 attacks.
Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman and Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown reacted cautiously to the nomination.
Brown declined to say whether he would vote to confirm the nominee, but added that he is “pleased this person is not an elected official or a former party person.”
Like Brown, Portman did not say how he plans to vote. But he told Bloomberg TV that the FBI “right now ... requires a leader who has integrity, who has the confidence certainly of the (Justice) department and also of the FBI, and people in the rank and file.”
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, said “it looks as if (Wray) is a solid, commonsense pick for FBI director who will provide a good opportunity for the bureau to move past the controversial tenure of James Comey.”