President of the United States Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated defence lawyer Christopher Wray as the eighth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The nomination has to be confirmed by the Senate.
Following Trump’s tweet announcing the replacement for James Comey, the White House, in a press release, quoted the President as saying that Wray “is an impeccably qualified individual” who will “serve his country as a fierce guardian of the law and model of integrity”.
So who is Christopher Wray?
A graduate of Yale University and its law school, Wray started off his career as an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. He went on to serve as federal prosecutor in Atlanta from 1997 to 2001 before moving on to the U.S. Department of Justice.
In 2003, under President George W. Bush, Wray was nominated as the Assistant Attorney General (who is also the head of the Criminal Division), where he oversaw the fraud investigation of Enron.
It was in King & Spalding, where he has been working since 2005, that Wray represented the New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Trump ally, in the George Washington Bridge investigation. The ‘Bridgegate’ was an investigation in which two former aides to the Republican Governor were convicted of plotting to close bridge lanes to punish a Democratic Mayor who wouldn’t endorse Christie. During tense times, Christie said, he would make one call -- to Wray.
The two met and bonded when Christie was the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey in the Bush administration. Christie, who has informally advised Trump, was not charged in the bridge case.
Wray, if confirmed, would not be the first FBI director to come from the private sector. But he has served longer in private practice and has a more extensive corporate client base than other FBI chiefs.
Legal ethics experts state that Wray is likely to face conflict of interest at the agency due to his defence work for many big companies and could be forced to step aside from some investigations.
At King & Spalding, Wray defended Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceutical unit in a Justice Department probe over off-label use of anti-psychotic drug Risperdal.
He also represented Credit Suisse in a major tax prosecution by the Justice Department, which alleged the Swiss financial group helped clients hide offshore accounts from the Internal Revenue Service.
According to King & Spalding's website, clients of the practice led by Wray include AT&T, Deutsche Bank , CVS Caremark, General Motors, Wells Fargo and others. It was not clear if Wray personally represented all of the companies listed.
