President Trump's pick to replace James Comey as head of the FBI appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday for his confirmation hearing and testified that his loyalty would be to the law, not to the White House. "No one asked me for any kind of loyalty oath during any part of this process," Christopher Wray said, referencing the supposed loyalty oath Trump wanted from Comey before he fired him. Wray said that were he to be asked for one, he wouldn't give it. USA Today notes that during his opening remarks, Wray—a former assistant attorney general and current lawyer—never mentioned Trump by name, but said, "I believe to my core that there is only one right way to do this job and that is strict independence—without fear, without favoritism and certainly without regard to any partisan influence."
Wray also testified that, though he wouldn't oversee the investigation into Russia's tampering with the 2016 US election, he'd protect the probe headed by special counsel Robert Mueller from outside tampering, ABC News reports. He was also asked about Donald Trump Jr.'s controversial emails with a Russian lawyer, noting he was "not in a position" to comment in detail about it, CBS News reports. Wray, who was the head of the Justice Department task force that convicted former Enron execs, has so far seen support from both sides of the aisle, but he worked on counterterrorist operations post-9/11, and the ACLU's national political director says he should be questioned about the Bush administration's detainee torture, per USA Today. Wray's ex-colleagues speak highly of him, and one says he knows of no reason his nomination would be blocked. Fox News has live updates on the hearing. (More Christopher Wray stories.)
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