FBI pick Wray defended Christie in ‘Bridgegate’

Trump: N.J. attorney ‘impeccably qualified’ to lead the agency

WASHINGTON — Christopher Wray, a white-collar defense lawyer with a strong law enforcement background who represented New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the Bridgegate scandal, was announced Wednesday as President Donald Trump’s pick to head the FBI.

In an early morning twosentence tweet, Trump said he intended to nominate Wray, a high-ranking official in George W. Bush’s Justice Department. That word came one day before the FBI director that Trump fired last month, James Comey, was to testify in public on Capitol Hill for the first time since his dismissal.

Trump, in a statement later Wednesday, called Wray “an impeccably qualified individual.”

“I know that he will again serve his country as a fierce guardian of the law and model of integrity once the Senate confirms him to lead the FBI,” Trump said.

Wray said he was honored to be selected.

“I look forward to serving the American people with integrity as the leader of what I know firsthand to be an extraordinary group of men and women who have dedicated their careers to protecting this country,” he said.

Wray rose to head the department’s criminal division in the Bush administration and oversaw investigations into corporate fraud, at a time when Comey was deputy attorney general. Wray took charge of a task force of prosecutors and FBI agents created to investigate the Enron scandal.

He also played an important role after Sept. 11, providing oversight as the FBI and Justice Department shifted their focus to counterterrorism and performing “superbly during the incredibly intense period,” according to the current attorney general, Jeff Sessions.

Sessions said in a statement that Wray “combines a brilliant legal mind, outstanding accomplishments and a proven record of public service.”

Wray is a traditional choice for the job. Trump had considered current and former politicians, including former Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and some FBI agents worried that Trump would try to politicize the bureau.

Christie’s office disclosed last year that Wray had the missing cellphone that was used by the governor and contained about a dozen text messages that Christie exchanged with a former staffer during a legislative hearing related to the bridge in 2013.