Trump’s FBI nominee denies Russia probe a ‘ witch hunt’

President Donald Trump’s pick to head the FBI, Christopher Wray, on Wednesday said he would refuse to pledge loyalty to Trump, rejected his description of the probe into Russian election meddling as a “witch hunt,” and vowed to quit if asked by the president to do something unlawful.

Wray, nominated by Trump on June 7 to replace the fired James Comey as the FBI director, sought to stake out independence from the president and protect the agency from partisan political influence. Wray even said it would be “highly unlikely” he would agree to meet Trump in a one- on- one situation, as Comey reluctantly did.

Wray, who seemed headed for US Senate approval to fill the 10- year post, testified during a 4 1/ 2- hour Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing amid an uproar in Washington over 2016 e- mails released on Tuesday involving Donald Trump Jr.

The e- mails showed the Republican president’s son agreeing last year to meet a woman he was told was a Russian government lawyer who might have damaging information about Democratic White House rival Hillary Clinton as part of Moscow’s official support for his father.

Wray deflected specific questions from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham about the president’s son’s e- mails, saying he had not read them. But Wray said, “Any threats or effort to interfere with our election from any nation- state or any non- state actor is the kind of thing the FBI would want to know.”

Trump fired Comey on May 9, igniting a political firestorm, and later cited the “Russia thing” as his reason. The Justice Department eight days later named Robert Mueller to serve as special counsel to investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race to help Trump win and potential collusion between Moscow and Trump associates.

The Russia matter has dogged Trump’s first six months in office. Wray said he had no reason to doubt the US intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in part by hacking and releasing emails damaging to Clinton, a claim Moscow denies.