FBI pick vows independence from White House
WASHINGTON >> Christopher A. Wray, President Trump’s nominee to head the FBI, told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that if the president improperly pressured him to drop an investigation, he would first try to talk him out of it — and if that failed, resign.
He testified during his confirmation hearing that no one has asked him for a loyalty oath as part of his nomination, adding, “And I sure as heck didn’t offer one.”
Wray, a low-key former senior Justice Department official, was nominated after Trump abruptly fired FBI Director James B. Comey in May amid a bureau investigation of potential coordination between Trump associates and the Kremlin to interfere in last year’s presidential election.
Comey’s dismissal hung over the proceedings, as a number of lawmakers said they wanted to avoid a repeat of the controversial firing. The former FBI director has testified that the president asked him for his “loyalty” and suggested that he drop an investigation of former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn.
The issue of the FBI’s independence took on even more significance this week in the wake of revelations that Trump’s son, son-in-law and then-campaign manager met last year with a Russian lawyer who Donald Trump Jr. believed might offer damaging information about Hillary Clinton, his father’s chief Democratic opponent.
Wray said he would never allow the bureau’s work to be driven by “anything other than the law, the facts and the impartial pursuit of justice.”
He said: “My loyalty is to the Constitution and the rule of law.”
Wray’s promise to resign before yielding to such pressure appeared to satisfy Republicans and Democrats that he would assert his independence on the job.
Asked by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the Judiciary Committee’s ranking Democrat, to commit to alerting the panel if he learned of any “machinations to tamper with” the investigation, Wray said he would consult with officials to ensure he was not jeopardizing the inquiry.
“But I would consider an effort to tamper with Director Mueller’s investigation unacceptable and inappropriate and would need to be dealt with very sternly indeed,” he said, referring to former FBI director Robert S. Mueller II, the special counsel leading the investigation of ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham, R-S.C., sought Wray’s position on the meeting with the Russian lawyer in June 2016 attended by Trump Jr., Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and then campaign manager Paul Manafort.
Wray did not answer directly. But when asked whether someone like Graham should take such a meeting, Wray responded: “Senator, I think you’d want to consult with some good legal advisers before you do that . ... I think it would be wise to let the FBI know.”
In Wray, 50, the president chose an accomplished lawyer with a classic establishment pedigree: a Yale Law School degree, a clerkship for a respected and conservative appellate judge, experience as a federal prosecutor and work at a corporate law firm.
Wray’s tenure in President George W. Bush’s administration, in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks, raised questions from Democrats about his role in reviewing policies about the harsh interrogation of detainees that were blessed by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in the Bush administration.
From 2001 to 2002, Wray worked directly under the deputy attorney general, and from 2003 to 2005, he headed the Justice Department’s criminal division.
Some Democrats noted that former OLC head John Yoo testified in 2008 that Wray was among the senior Justice Department officials who would have reviewed memos relating to interrogation techniques during Bush’s first term.
Wray said he did not remember commenting on or approving any memo for Yoo on the subject.