US Senate confirms Christopher Wray as new FBI director (Lead)

Washington Aug 2 (IANS) The US Senate voted on Tuesday to confirm Christopher A. Wray as the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Wray with a 92-5 vote replaces James Comey who was abruptly fired by US President Donald Trump in May as investigators were looking into possible links between the Trump campaign and the Russian government Xinhua news agency reported.

At Wray s nomination debate on Tuesday Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar said "this is a tough time to take this tough job."

"The previous FBI director as we know was fired because of the Russia investigation. The former acting attorney general was fired. And we ve had a slew of other firings throughout the government over the last few months " she said.

In June Wray was nominated by Trump to succeed Comey as the FBI director.

During a confirmation hearing last month Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he would strive for independence in light of that Trump had allegedly asked for loyalty from the then-FBI leader.

"My commitment is to the rule of law to the Constitution to follow the facts wherever they may lead " Wray said.

"There isn t a person on this planet whose lobbying or influence could convince to just drop or abandon a properly predicated and meritorious investigation " he added.

Born into a family of New York lawyers Wray graduated in 1989 from Yale University and got a law degree in 1992 from the Yale Law School.

Wray was later hired as a Justice Department prosecutor for years before rising to assistant general in charge of overseeing fraud investigations.

In 2005 he resigned to join private practice as a litigation partner with the law firm King & Spalding.

Under US law the FBI director serve a single 10-year term.

--IANS
pgh/