Wray, ‘low key’ FBI director in eye of the storm
WASHINGTON: Christopher Wray, US President Donald Trump’s hand-picked FBI director, told senators during his confirmation hearing not to be put off by his soft-spoken manner. “No one should mistake my low-key demeanor as a lack of resolve,” Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Anybody who thinks that I would be pulling punches as the FBI director sure doesn’t know me very well.” Just six months into the job, the 50year-old Wray is having that resolve tested as he squares off with a president who has already fired one head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Ignoring Wray’s objections, the White House approved the release on Friday of a memo which it claimed reveals abuse at the FBI and Justice Department in connection with surveillance of a member of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign who had ties to Russia. According to CNN, the White House was worried Wray may quit to protest the release of the memo drafted under the authority of Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
On the contrary, the FBI director sent an internal message to the bureau’s 30,000 employees on Friday that contained no suggestion he would step down. “Let me be clear: I stand fully committed to our mission,” Wray said in the message obtained by AFP. “I stand by our shared determination to do our work independently and by the book. “Talk is cheap; the work you do is what will endure,” he said. “And know that I consider it an incredible privilege to work beside you-and that I am determined to defend your integrity and professionalism every day.” Wray has mostly flown under the radar since replacing James Comey at the head of the FBI, which has been the target of Trump’s ire since taking office.
Wray was overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate in August, three months after Trump sacked Comey amid an FBI probe into whether members of the president’s campaign had colluded with Russia help him get elected. That investigation, which Trump has denounced as a “witch hunt,” is now in the hands of special counsel Robert Mueller, himself a former FBI director. Democratic lawmakers are claiming the memo is part of a broader campaign aimed at discrediting the Mueller probe and protecting Trump. —AFP