President Donald Trump fired James Comey on May 9 as FBI director allegedly because he did a poor job in investigating the Hillary Clinton email server issue. Trump nominated Christopher Wray on June 7 to replace Comey.

Wray, in a four-and-a-half hour testimony with the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to confirm his appointment, indicated he may be a bigger headache than Comey. He said he would not pledge loyalty to Trump if the president asks him and would resign from the job if Trump asks him to do something unlawful, Reuters reported.

Alleged reasons why Trump fired Comey

Even if Trump insisted he fired Comey for the bungled Clinton email server probe, events that unfolded showed otherwise. The president apparently fired Comey because he refused to pledge loyalty to Trump and refused to stop the FBI investigation on former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Wray added he would not meet the president one-on-one like what Comey reluctantly did. He also said the ongoing probe of Russian interference, led by special counsel Robert Mueller, is not a witch hunt as the president had tweeted on Wednesday to defend son Donald Jr.

for meeting the Russian lawyer.

When Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham asked Wray specific questions about Donald Jr.’s email exchange with British publicist Rod Goldberg, the nominee said he had not read the emails.

He assured the senators, “Any threats or efforts to interfere with our elections from any nation-state or any non-state actor is the kind of thing the FBI would want to know.”

Who is Wray?

Wray had worked with two personalities involved deeply in the Russian investigation. When Comey was deputy attorney general, Wray worked at the Justice Department during the term of President George W.

Bush. Mueller, at that time, was the FBI director.

Scott Dworkin, who belongs to the Democratic Coalition against Trump, claimed in a tweet that Wray’s company had business in Russia and worked for Trump. He, however, did not provide evidence to support his claim.

After Wray finished law in 1992 at Yale Law School, he joined King and Spalding, a law firm based in Atlanta, according to PBS. In 1997, he became assistant U.S. attorney in Georgia and joined the Justice Department in 2001. He returned to King and Spalding in 2005.

If Wray would get the position, he would lead the FBI for 10 years, unless he too would be fired by Trump or the next president. He would manage a big agency since the FBI has 35,000 employees. Fortune noted that Wray would have to demonstrate his fidelity and loyalty to the U.S. Constitution unless he would begin his term with a political yoke around his neck because it was Trump who handpicked him to replace Comey.
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