By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
President Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Christopher Wray, will face difficult questions Wednesday during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Perhaps most central is whether Wray can assure Democrats and some Republicans that he will stay independent of Trump, who urged then-FBI Director James Comey to pledge his loyalty to the president.
“Christopher Wray would inherit an FBI that lost its popular leader in an unceremonious firing in May and that has spent the last year investigating whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to win the presidency,” The Washington Post wrote. “During this most consequential probe in decades, he’d be serving under a president who is said to have demanded loyalty from Comey and has appeared insensitive to the traditionally bright boundary between the White House and the FBI.”
FBI agents and lawyers who know Wray said they don’t believe the former high-ranking Justice Department official under President George W. Bush will have trouble maintaining his independence.
“The people in the bureau are particularly concerned about what’s going to walk through that door,” said Monique Roth, who worked under Wray in the criminal division. “He is a very steady hand at the helm.”
