Take a break Wednesday from reading Russia-Donald Trump Jr. bombshells by watching a tangentially-related-but-similarly-high-stakes event: the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on the next FBI director.
Christopher Wray, the lawyer and former assistant attorney general President Donald Trump nominated to the position last month, is scheduled to go before the committee at 9:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday. There, he'll likely face questions on his judgment, objectivity and human rights, according to NPR.
Related: Who Is Christopher Wray?
A quick refresher: Wray has been picked by the president to succeed James Comey, who was fired after more than three years on the job this past May. Comey had been investigating whether the Trump campaign had any ties with Russian officials who interfered in the November presidential election. Initially, the president blamed his decision to terminate Comey on a recommendation from deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein that came after the ex-director mishandled the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state. Trump later confessed it was because Comey was a "showboat."
Then Comey testified that he'd developed a bad relationship with the president after Trump asked him to ease up on investigating former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn's ties to Russia—a possible case of obstruction of justice. Afterward, Trump tweeted that he was "being investigated for firing the FBI director by the man who told me to fire the FBI director."
Whew.
Wray isn't without controversy of his own. In his role as an attorney for the firm King and Spalding, the 50-year-old represented an energy executive being investigated by Russian officials. He then deleted references to the case from his biography on the company website, according to CNN.
Wray also represented Chris Christie in the Bridgegate scandal in which the New Jersey governor's aides purposefully closed lanes on the George Washington Bridge out of spite for a local mayor and played a major role in the U.S.'s response to 9/11, Politico reported. According to a statement from Trump, though, "he is an impeccably qualified individual" who will "again serve his country as a fierce guardian of the law and model of integrity once the Senate confirms him to lead the FBI."
You can live stream Wray's hearing on the committee's website here or check it out on Twitter here.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Julia Glum joined IBT Media in October 2014 as a breaking news reporter specializing in youth affairs.
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