President Trump Picks Christopher Wray to Be FBI Director

President Donald Trump said that he had selected the former federal prosecutor Christopher Wray, now a Washington (DC)-based criminal defense lawyer who recently represented Gov Chris Christie (R-NJ) in the so-called Bridgegate scandal, to be his new FBI director. The president revealed his decision in a morning tweet. His announcement came a day before the former FBI director James B. Comey was to testify about President Trump’s attempts to get him to end the bureau’s investigation into his former national security adviser’s contacts with Russia.

Wray is a safe, mainstream pick from a president who at one point was considering politicians for a job that has historically been kept outside of politics. Wray, a former assistant attorney general overseeing the criminal division under President George W. Bush, is likely to allay the fears of FBI agents who worried that President Trump would try to weaken or politicize the FBI. Wray, two administration officials said, is a hybrid pick for President Trump: He is a seasoned criminal lawyer who bonded with Christie when both were young attorneys in the Justice Department, and a highly regarded criminal defense lawyer who represented Christie in the aftermath of the scandal over traffic jams that rocked his governorship.