Christopher Wray, President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace James Comey as FBI director, will appear testify Wednesday in his Senate confirmation hearing. You can watch live streaming video of the hearing, which is set to begin at 10 a.m., above.
He will face questions from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Wray, 50, of Georgia, was a top Justice Department official in administration of President George W. Bush, and has been in private practice since leaving the government. He has represented major companies during his time with the Atlanta-based King & Spalding law firm and was the private attorney for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie during the Bridgegate investigation.
Wray interviewed for the job as the federal government’s top cop on May 30 and was picked as Comey’s successor on June 7.
“I am proud to announce Christopher as my choice as the Director of the FBI,” Trump said in a statement announcing Wray as his pick. “During his previous service at the Department of Justice, Christopher was the leader of major fraud investigations, and was a key part of the team overseeing the Justice Department’s actions in the war on terrorism following the 9/11 attacks. He is an impeccably qualified individual, and 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.”
In a statement, Wray said, “It is a great honor to be selected by the President to return to the Department of Justice as Director of the FBI. 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.”
GettyChris Wray seen in a photo from the King & Spalding law firm, left, and from his time with the Justice Department in 2003.
The position has been open since Trump decided to fire Comey on May 9. Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe assumed the role of acting director upon Comey’s dismissal and is also among those to be considered for the full-time job.
Wray began his career in government in 1997 with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, where he was an assistant U.S. Attorney. He was moved to “Main Justice” in 2001, serving as associate deputy attorney general and principal associate deputy attorney general, according to the Justice Department’s website.
President George W. Bush nominated him as assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in 2003. He received unanimous confirmation from the Senate.
Wray worked alongside James Comey and former FBI director Robert Mueller at the Justice Department during his time in the Bush administration. Mueller was chosen in May to serve as special counsel for the Justice Department’s investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election.
While Wray was assistant attorney general from 2003 to 2005, Comey was the deputy attorney general and Mueller was leading the FBI as its director.
Then-Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Comey speaks with then-assistant attorney general Christopher Wray during a news conference at the Justice Department December 15, 2004 in Washington DC.
Wray has been a litigation partner at the King & Spalding law firm, working out of its Atlanta and Washington D.C. offices, since he left the Justice Department in 2005, according to the firm’s website.
According to the firm’s website, Wray chaired “the King & Spalding Special Matters and Government Investigations Practice Group, which represents companies, audit and special committees, and individuals in a variety of white-collar criminal and regulatory enforcement matters, parallel civil litigation, and internal corporate investigations.”
Wray graduated from Yale University in 1989 and went on to Yale Law School, receiving his law degree in 1992, according to his law firm’s website. He was the executive editor of the Yale Law Journal.
Wray attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. His father, Cecil Wray, was an partner at the law firm Debevoise & Plimpton and his mother, Gilda Wray worked for the Charles Hayden Foundation.
He is married, to Helen Wray, with two children, a daughter, Caroline, 22, and a son, Trip, 20, and lives in Georgia.
You can read more about Christopher Wray at the link below:
