Senator Chuck Grassley. (file photo)
President Trump’s nominee for FBI director is subject of a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, a panel chaired by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley.
Fifty-year-old lawyer Christopher Wray, who served as an Assistant Attorney General during the George W. Bush administration, holds much promise, according to Grassley.
“His nomination is an opportunity to clear the cloud of controversy that has overshadowed much of the agency’s good work,” Grassley says. The new head of the bureau needs to have “a deeper respect for congressional oversight,” which Grassley says is something he’s continuing to pursue.
Grassley says, “The FBI should be committed to the same level of integrity and accountability that the agency has had such a good reputation for so very long.” The previous FBI director, James Comey, was fired by President Trump in May. Just this Monday, Trump alleged in a tweet that Comey leaked classified information to the media. Comey was dismissed in the midst of his agency’s investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia and the alleged Russian attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election.
Grassley says, “The greater accountability to the people that the FBI serves will go a long way to bring back some of the prestige that has been tarnished recently by its leadership.” Grassley hopes to wrap up work on the Wray nomination within a week and have the vacancy at the top of the FBI filled before Congress adjourns in August.