The Senate voted to confirm Christopher Wray as the next FBI director on Tuesday by 92-5, nearly three months after President Donald Trump fired former director James Comey from the position.
Wray previously served as the Associate Deputy Attorney General in President George W. Bush’s administration and was promoted to assistant attorney general for the criminal division before he left to work in the private sector as a partner at the Washington law firm King & Spalding until 2017.
Whilst serving the Bush administration, he oversaw the highly publicized Enron case and oversaw the legal aspects of the war on terror after 9/11. Meanwhile, at King & Spalding, Gray provided legal assistance to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie regarding the “bridgegate” scandal.
Trump nominated Wray to the role in June, describing him as a man of “impeccable credentials.”
As part of his testimony, Wray told lawmakers that he would never pledge loyalty to the president and would not allow Trump to intefere in investigations.
“If I am given the honor of leading this agency, I will never allow the FBI’s work to be driven by anything other than the facts, the law, and the impartial pursuit of justice,” Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee during his testimony in July.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-IW) said:
He told the committee that he won’t condone tampering with investigations, and that he would resign rather than be unduly influenced in any manner. Mr. Wray’s record of service, and his reputation give us no reason to doubt him. He made no loyalty pledges then, and I expect him never to make such a pledge moving forward.
Five Democrats opposed Wray’s nomination, namely Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ed Markey, (D-MA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
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