WASHINGTON--President Donald Trump on Wednesday ended a fraught month-long search for an FBI chief after firing James Comey by selecting Christopher Wray, who has prosecuted and defended white-collar crime cases and represented New Jersey's governor in a political scandal.
Wray, who must be confirmed to the post by the Senate, and Comey served together in the Justice Department under former President George Bush, and both worked on the government's case in the Enron Corp fraud scandal in the early to mid-2000s.
The Republican president's search for a replacement for Comey after firing him May 9 was difficult. Leading candidates including former Senator Joe Lieberman took their names out of consideration, and Trump interviewed a series of contenders.
In a statement, Trump called Wray "an impeccably qualified individual" who will serve "as a fierce guardian of the law and model of integrity."
The White House has given shifting explanations on why Trump fired Comey during an FBI investigation into whether Trump campaign associates colluded with the Russians to help him with the 2016 presidential election. Trump has said he was thinking of "this Russia thing" in dismissing Comey.
Wray served from 2003 to 2005 at the Justice Department under Republican former President George W. Bush as an assistant attorney general in charge of its criminal division and oversaw the department's Enron task force. Wray and Comey helped bring the case against Kenneth Lay, the former Enron chairman convicted in 2006. Also involved in the Enron matter was Robert Mueller, then FBI director and now special counsel named after Comey was fired to investigate the Russia affair, as well as Andrew Weissman, who is now working for Mueller.
The web of Enron connections underscores the reliance in Washington, even under a president who vowed to "drain the swamp," on an elite corps of corporate lawyers whose varied careers often intersect and who sometimes present conflict-of-interest issues. For instance, after he left the Justice Department and joined top international law firm King & Spalding, Wray represented Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in the so-called Bridgegate scandal over massive traffic jams created as political punishment for a local mayor.
That case and others taken on by Wray while in private practice could pose problems, said American Civil Liberties Union National Political Director Faiz Shakir in a statement. "Christopher Wray's firm's legal work for the Trump family, his history of partisan activity, as well as his history of defending Trump's transition director during a criminal scandal makes us question his ability to lead the FBI," Shakir said.
