Trump's FBI pick vows independence, says Russia probe no "witch hunt"

Breaking with the president, Christopher Wray, the lawyer Donald Trump picked to lead the FBI declares he does not believe a special counsel investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump election campaign is a "witch hunt".

Christopher Wray is seated with his daughter Caroline and wife Helen as he prepares to testify before a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be the next FBI director on Capitol Hill in Washington, US. July 12, 2017.
TRT World and Agencies

Christopher Wray is seated with his daughter Caroline and wife Helen as he prepares to testify before a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be the next FBI director on Capitol Hill in Washington, US. July 12, 2017.

Donald Trump's pick to head the FBI says he would not pledge loyalty to the US president as James Comey – the director of the Bureau who was sacked by the current administration – said was demanded of him.

Christopher Wray, who appeared at his US Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Wednesday, was nominated by Trump on June 7 to replace Comey as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The hearing took place amid an uproar in the US Capitol over 2016 emails released by the president's son Donald Trump Jr which showed him agreeing to meet a Russian official to get "dirt" on then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Wray said he would refuse to pledge loyalty to Trump, rejected his description of the probe into Russian election meddling as a "witch hunt," and vowed to quit if told by the president to do something unlawful. He firmly sought to establish independence from the Republican president and even said it would be "highly unlikely" that he would agree to meet him in a one-on-one situation.

The Junior situation

Wray deflected specific questions from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham about the president's son's emails, but said, "Any threats or effort to interfere with our election from any nation-state or any non-state actor is the kind of thing the FBI would want to know."

Trump's son did not notify the FBI and wrote that "I love it" of the Russian's offer of information about Clinton.

Wray, who appeared on target to win confirmation, also said he had no reason to doubt the US intelligence community's finding that Russia interfered with the election to help Trump get elected in part by hacking and releasing emails damaging to Clinton.

The "Russia thing"

In the aftermath of Comey's firing, the US Department of Justice named Robert Mueller, himself a former FBI director, to serve as special counsel looking into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race to help Trump get elected and potential collusion between Moscow and Trump associates.

Trump fired Comey on May 9 and later cited the "Russia thing" as his reason.

Trump often has called the Russia probe a "witch hunt." The Russia matter has dogged Trump's first six months in office.

"I do not consider Director Mueller to be on a witch hunt," Wray told Republican Graham.

Wray said he was "very committed" to supporting Mueller in the special counsel investigation, calling him "the consummate straight shooter and somebody I have enormous respect for."

Dianne Feinstein asked Wray to tell the committee "if you learn about any machinations to tamper with" Mueller's probe.

"Understood," Wray responded.

No oath of loyalty

Wray said he spoke with no one at the White House about Comey's firing.

He said no one at the White House had demanded that he pledge his loyalty to Trump and said he would not give such an assurance if asked.

"My loyalty is to the Constitution, to the rule of law and to the mission of the FBI. And no one asked me for any kind of loyalty oath at any point during this process, and I sure as heck didn't offer one," Wray said.

Comey previously testified to the same committee that Trump pressed him in a one-on-one session to drop the FBI investigation into former national security advisor Michael Flynn's ties to Russia and said he felt he was fired in a bid by the president to undercut the Russia probe.

Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy asked Wray, "If the president asks you to do something unlawful or unethical, what do you say?"

"First, I would try to talk him out of it. And if that failed, I would resign," Wray said.

Asked by Democratic Senator Dick Durbin if he would ever meet in the Oval Office with the president with no one else present, Wray said, "I think it would be highly unlikely."

Who is Wray?

Wray is a former department of justice lawyer who has prosecuted and defended white-collar crime cases and represented New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in a political scandal.

Wray and Comey served together in the justice department under Republican former President George W Bush, and both worked on the government's case in the Enron Corp fraud scandal in the early to mid-2000s.

"There's only one right way to do this job, and that is with strict independence, by the book, playing it straight, faithful to the Constitution, faithful to our laws, and faithful to the best practices of the institution, without fear, without favouritism and certainly without regard to any partisan political influence," Wray said.

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