The Senate is set to vote Tuesday on President Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI.
The nominee, Christopher Wray, received unanimously backing from the Senate Judiciary Committee last month.
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned Tuesday against any possibly attempt to derail Mr. Wray’s nomination.
“I would hope that with all the threats facing us at home and abroad, our Democratic colleagues would not launch the first filibuster of a nominee to be FBI Director, especially one who was reported out of the Judiciary Committee by a vote of 20-0,” Mr. McConnell said on the Senate floor Tuesday.
The vote is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Mr. Wray received bipartisan support during his confirmation hearing, when he promised lawmakers that he was outside the president’s sphere of influence and would resist any efforts to politicize the bureau as it helps investigate Trump aides’ involvement with Russia.
“If I am given the honor of leading this agency, I will never allow the FBI’s work to be driven by anything other than the facts, the law and the impartial pursuit of justice. Period. Full stop,” Mr. Wray told the Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing in July. “My loyalty is to the Constitution and the rule of law.”
Mr. Wray is a private attorney who has focused on corporate litigation at King and Spaulding law firm for more than a decade. His last post in the federal government was in 2005, when he served as the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s sprawling criminal division. He also brings counterterrorism and counterespionage expertise to the table, having worked on those issues for the Justice Department after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Before that, he served as a federal prosecutor in Atlanta.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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