Wray is a criminal defense lawyer now employed by the King & Spalding law firm in Washington, D.C. He had previously served as the Assistant Attorney General under former President George W. Bush.
Wray is a partner in the law firm King & Spalding.
President Donald Trump surprised Washington on Wednesday with his choice to replace James Comey a day ahead of the ousted Federal Bureau of Investigation director's blockbuster congressional testimony, tapping a white-collar defense lawyer with strong law enforcement background.
Wray, if confirmed, would be tasked with overseeing the Bureau during a volatile time, particularly in light of the political fallout that ensued following last month's firing of former FBI Director James Comey. Trump fired Comey in May and has been interviewing candidates to succeed him.
Wray headed up the Justice Department's criminal division from 2003 to 2005 under President George W. Bush and is now a litigation partner at the DC-based law firm King & Spalding, where he chairs the firm's Special Matters and Government Investigations Practice Group. He was the personal lawyer for Republican Christie in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing investigation, in which two former Christie aides were convicted of plotting to close bridge lanes to punish a Democratic mayor who wouldn't endorse Christie.
Wray was with Christie when the governor was questioned by federal prosecutors and FBI agents at his home in Princeton, New Jersey, in December 2014.
"I've worked with Chris for a number of years and always had complete confidence in him".
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Eric Trump said the allegation that his father's campaign colluded with Russian Federation is "the greatest hoax of all time". John Cornyn, of Texas, the no. 2 Republican in the Senate, is the closest to an ally Trump has on the committee.
At King & Spalding, the Yale Law School graduate chairs a unit representing entities and individuals in white collar criminal and regulatory enforcement issues, civil litigation and internal corporate investigations, according to the law firm's website.
The FBI Agents Association, which includes thousands of current and retired agents, says its board "looks forward to meeting with Mr. Wray". He then clerked for Judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
"Chris Wray is super smart, a great lawyer and highly experienced". They range from defending Huntington Ingalls Industries in a $2.5 billion false claims case over Hurricane Katrina funding to having claims dismissed against auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers over a corruption probe against Brazil's Petrobras. The action may represent an attempt to inject credibility into an investigation rocked by controversy and accusations of presidential tampering. Discussing the group's approach, Wray told Law360, "It's kind of a "keep calm and tackle hard" philosophy".
Sessions said in a statement that Wray "combines a brilliant legal mind, outstanding accomplishments and a proven record of public service". "He has seen the job and the Justice Department in all its missions".
He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate in 2003 to lead the Justice Department's criminal division, where he oversaw several high-profile investigations, from the Enron scandal to the Justice Department's response to terrorism in the wake of 9/11. In 1997, he joined the United States attorney's office for the northern district of Georgia as a federal prosecutor before joining the leadership ranks at the justice department in 2001, months before the September 11 attacks would reshape law enforcement response to terrorism.
On Wednesday, lawmakers will hear from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the No. 2 official at the Justice Department who signed a letter recommending Comey's dismissal.
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