Politics

Who is Christopher Wray? Donald Trump picks new FBI boss

Key Points
  • President Trump said he will nominate Christopher A. Wray to lead the FBI.
  • Wray led the Enron Task Force when he was with the Department of Justice.
  • He represented New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie during the investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane-closing case.
Trump tweets that he'll nominate Christopher Wray for FBI post
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Trump tweets that he'll nominate Christopher Wray for FBI post

Christopher A. Wray, President Donald Trump's pick to succeed James Comey as FBI director, led the federal investigation of Enron and represented Gov. Chris Christie in the Bridgegate scandal.

In a tweet Wednesday morning, Trump said Wray had "impeccable credentials."

Trump tweet: I will be nominating Christopher A. Wray, a man of impeccable credentials, to be the new Director of the FBI. Details to follow.

Wray was nominated by President George W. Bush as assistant attorney general in charge of the Criminal Division, according to the Justice Department. He held that job from 2003 to 2005.

Wray, a Yale Law School graduate, served on the President's Corporate Fraud Task Force and oversaw the Enron Task Force and other major fraud investigations, according to the Washington law firm King & Spaulding, where he is a litigation partner.

The FBI says the Enron probe was the "largest and most complex white-collar investigation" in the agency's history.

Wray specializes in white collar law and internal investigations, according to the Justice Department site. He represented the New Jersey governor in the scandal surrounding the closing of lanes on the George Washington Bridge in 2013 as a way to attack political opponents. Christie was never charged but two of his allies were convicted.

Christopher Wray
Ron Edmonds | AP

Before Wray became an assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, he was principal associate deputy attorney General.

Trump fired the last director of the FBI, James Comey, as he was overseeing an investigation into links between the Trump presidential campaign and the Kremlin.

Trump's announcement came the day before Comey appears before the Senate Intelligence Committee. In the highly anticipated hearing, Comey will almost certainly be asked whether Trump tried to get him to back off a probe into former national security advisor Michael Flynn.

Trump's tweet also came just hours before acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe and other top intelligence officials testify before the committee. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats will likely be asked about a Washington Post report that he told associates that Trump asked him if he could persuade Comey to ease off Flynn.