President Trump Selects DOJ Veteran Christopher Wray As F.B.I. Director

President Trump's pick for FBI director is "amazing" -- and no, that's not DJT exaggeration.

President Donald Trump continues to hire top talent for legal jobs in his administration. This just in, from the White House Press Office presidential Twitter feed:

POTUS is known for engaging in hyperbole, but it’s no exaggeration to say that Christopher Wray has “impeccable credentials.” He graduated from Yale College in 1989 and Yale Law School in 1992, before going into a clerkship with Judge J. Michael Luttig (4th Cir.) — at the time one of the most coveted clerkships around, because of Judge Luttig’s near-perfect record as a Supreme Court feeder judge. (Judge Luttig was himself a contender for FBI director.)

Chris Wray was the rare Luttigator who didn’t clerk for SCOTUS, but it doesn’t seem to have hurt his career any. From 2003 to 2005, he served in the Bush Administration as Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, one of the most important posts in the DOJ. He was an excellent choice for that job, having previously served the Department as Associate Deputy Attorney General and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta).

After leaving government service, Wray joined King & Spalding, one of Atlanta’s top law firms, where he’s currently a partner. At K&S, he has handled such high-profile matters as representing Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey in the Bridgegate scandal. (He and Christie bonded when they both worked for the Justice Department during the George W. Bush presidency.)

So Wray has a great résumé, featuring a healthy blend of criminal law and political experience (which is apparently what gave him an edge over the runner-up, former FBI deputy director John S. Pistole; according to the New York Times, Wray’s superior political chops carried the day). But that’s not all. Here’s a more colorful account of Chris Wray, which I wrote back in my days at Underneath Their Robes (UTR):

Chris Wray UTR Christopher A WrayLeast Loathsome Untouchable: Christopher A. Wray

This prize, bestowed upon the hottest member of the Great Unwashed [UTR-speak for “never a Supreme Court clerk”], goes to Chris Wray, a participant in an “interesting,” “spirited” [Federalist Society] panel discussion on the PATRIOT Act. Wray has done pretty well for himself professionally, despite being the only Luttigator not among the Elect [UTR-speak for “Supreme Court clerks”]. Overcoming this disability, he has risen to the post of Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division (sizable shoes previously filled by one of the Anointed, Judge Michael Chertoff, recently profiled in UTR).

Wray wins the prize for Least Loathsome Untouchable, however, based not on his professional achievement, nor on the fact that “all the top D.C. firms have a [crude word omitted] for him” (as noted in this article). Rather, he wins for a far more meritocratic reason: he is “incredibly good-looking”! As one UTR reader gushed, Wray is “hunk-o-licious.” He combines “the irresistible, boyish good looks of Nick Lachey with the handsome, rugged manliness of Campbell Scott.” And his “genteel Southern accent” is “simply to die for!”

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Christopher A. Wray (via King & Spalding)

Christopher A. Wray (via King & Spalding)

As you can see from his King & Spalding photo, Wray’s “boyish good looks” have evolved into Silver Fox status.

Congratulations to President Trump on a great pick, and congratulations to Chris Wray on his new job (because confirmation for someone this qualified and respected should happen in the end, even if the Democrats rake him over the coals a bit). When Wray testifies in televised Senate hearings — get your popcorn ready for James Comey tomorrow, by the way — at least he’ll be easy on the eyes.

UPDATE (10:28 a.m.): Over at Lawfare, Professor Jack Goldsmith, a former colleague of Wray’s, offers these thoughts:

I worked with Wray in the Justice Department. He was the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division when I was Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel.

Wray is smart, serious, and professional. He doesn’t have quite the range of experiences that his two predecessors did. But he has deep experience with federal criminal law and the FBI. I think Trump’s firing of James Comey was a travesty. But Wray is a good choice, a much better choice than any name* of the politicians I previously saw floated, and a much better choice than I expected Trump to make. Without prejudging what will surely be a probing confirmation process, I think Wray is qualified to be Director of the FBI.

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Goldsmith is an expert on national security law and far from a Trump cheerleader, so these words carry weight. Good luck to Chris Wray in his confirmation hearings, which should make a Luttig clerkship interview look like a walk in the park.

UPDATE (10:57 a.m.): This just in, from Judge Luttig (now the general counsel of Boeing, as most ATL readers know): “Chris Wray would have had the opportunity to clerk at the Supreme Court had he wanted.”

Trump Picks Christopher Wray to Be F.B.I. Director [New York Times]
Robing Room Report: Federalist Fiesta Collector’s Edition! (Part 1) [Underneath Their Robes]

Earlier: Who Is Being Considered To Succeed James Comey As Director Of The FBI?


DBL square headshotDavid Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at dlat@abovethelaw.com.