Donald Trump taps Christopher Wray as new FBI director; move comes on eve of James Comey's testimony

Washington: US president Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he is tapping lawyer and former justice department official Christopher Wray to serve as his new FBI director, on the eve of critical testimony by the intelligence agency chief he ousted. Wray, a litigation attorney with law firm King & Spalding in Washington and Atlanta, previously served as assistant attorney-general in charge of the justice department’s Criminal Division from 2003 to 2005. “I will be nominating Christopher A Wray, a man of impeccable credentials, to be the new Director of the FBI. Details to follow,” Trump wrote on Twitter. Meanwhile, the US capital will grind to a halt Thursday, glued to computer and television screens as sacked FBI chief James Comey testifies about whether Trump pressured him to halt a probe into an adviser’s links to Russia. Trump, a ratings-obsessed former reality television star, may not appreciate the worldwide attention paid to Comey’s public testimony, which is being touted as the Super Bowl of high political drama. Comey is the star witness in the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation of alleged Russian election meddling last year, with the possible collusion of the Trump campaign. The allegations have drawn comparison to the 1970s Watergate scandal that brought down president Richard Nixon.