US President Donald Trump has announced plans to nominate a former assistant attorney general in charge of the Department of Justice’s criminal unit, Christopher A. Wray to succeed James Comey as Federal Bureau of Investigation director.
The President’s announcement comes on barely few hours before James Comey former FBI director, whom Trump fired last month, is expected to appear before the Senate intelligence committee to testify in a much-anticipated hearing.
Commendable nomination
Christopher A. Wray will be nominated to be the next FBI director.
He is a man of impeccable character, details of his nomination to follow, President Trump said.
Wray was the head of the criminal division in the Justice Department from 2003 to 2005. He was appointed by former President George W. Bush and is currently working with King & Spalding as a litigation partner. He is the chair of the DC-based law firm’s government investigations group.
He was the represented of Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey in last week’s Bridgegate inquiry into the George Washington Bridge closure. Christie told reporters that Donald Trump would be making a good choice by picking Wray to head the FBI.
Concerns about the timing
“Christopher Wray is an exception person, with all the necessary gifts to becoming a very good FBI director,” According to a statement by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“I salute President Donald Trump for selecting a great leader with demonstrated skills, exposure, and integrity, a man that Americans would be proud of.
The announcement came as a surprise to many on the eve of Comey’s testimony be for Congress, and the news about the tense relationship between Trump and Sessions, who during the week told his boss he would be willing to quit, a senior White House official confirmed to reporters on Tuesday.
Analysts say the timing could be aimed at diluting the impact of James Comey’s testimony before Congress on Thursday. The former FBI boss is expected to dispute Trump’s controversial claims that he repeatedly told the president he was not being investigated and is also prepared to narrate the conversation between him and Trump that placed both men on a collision course.
Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat and a member of the Senate intelligence committee has questioned the timing of Wray’s nomination.
Senator Warner told CNN that he was skeptical of the president’s decision to announce his new choice for the FBI head at a critical moment. “There is always a time and place to screen him. But it seems this is an attempt to try to draw people’s attention from the outcome of the findings, he said.
