Always classy, Trump has announced his choice for FBI Director in a tweet
I will be nominating Christopher A. Wray, a man of impeccable credentials, to be the new Director of the FBI. Details to follow.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 7, 2017
Wray isn’t a household name, even among civil liberty advocates, so we’re still researching those details.
Here’s what we’ve got so far:
Wray is a litigation partner at King & Spalding, and served as the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division at DOJ from 2003 – 2005. That’s a position that requires Senate confirmation, so we’ll be reviewing his confirmation hearing for clues to how he’ll approach the job of top cop. His time at DOJ coincided with Comey (who was Deputy Attorney General) and Mueller (who was FBI Director).
Heavy.com reports that “He was willing to resign along with Comey and Mueller in 2004, during Comey’s showdown with the White House over the plan to renew the National Security Agency’s Terrorist Surveillance Program while then-Attorney General John Ashcroft was hospitalized.”
He also testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Patriot Act in 2003.
Marcy Wheeler notes that “Wray was on the border of a lot of torture decisions in 2004 — the ACLU database of torture documents is full of entirely redacted documents involving him.” And that “Wray was involved in one of the noted field trips to Gitmo to watch torture.”
Wheeler also points out that “Wray provided inappropriate briefings to John Ashcroft about what Ashcroft’s buddies had said during FBI interviews.” That’s not a great sign. It demonstrates that “Wray is likely to ensure that highers up never see any consequences for their actions. And he sure seems likely to keep Trump in the loop on the investigation of Trump.”
That syncs with the way that Wray described his current law firm.”We’re more known for calmly and quietly diffusing a crisis or making matters go quietly away and keeping things in the middle of the road.” It’s also of note that Wray was Governor Chris Christie’s personal lawyer in the notorious “Bridgegate” scandal (Christie got off while three of his top aides were convicted of federal crimes).
