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Donald Trump's pick to head the FBI said he would refuse to pledge loyalty to the US President, rejected his description of the probe into Russian election meddling as a "witch-hunt", and vowed to quit if told to do something unlawful.
Key points:
- Mr Wray appeared on target to win the confirmation to become the new FBI chief
- He tells the committee the contents of Donald Trump Jr's emails is FBI territory
- Contrasting President Trump, Mr Wray says the Russian probe is no "witch hunt"
Christopher Wray, nominated by Mr Trump on June 7 to replace the fired James Comey as FBI director, firmly sought to establish independence from the Republican President and even said it would be "highly unlikely" that he would agree to meet him in a one-on-one situation.
Mr Wray appeared at his US Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing amid an uproar in Washington over 2016 emails released on Tuesday involving the president's son, Donald Trump Jr.
The emails showed the President's son agreeing to meet a Russian government lawyer who he was told might have damaging information about Democratic White House rival Hillary Clinton as part of Moscow's official support for his father.
Mr Wray deflected specific questions from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham about Mr Trump Jr's emails, but maintained that the contents of those emails in the context of a campaign was FBI territory.
"Any threats or effort to interfere with our election from any nation-state or any non-state actor is the kind of thing the FBI would want to know," he said.
In contrast, Mr Trump's son did not notify the FBI and wrote that "I love it" of the Russian's offer of information about Mrs Clinton.
Mr Wray, who appeared on target to win confirmation, also said he had no reason to doubt the US intelligence community's finding that Russia interfered with the election to help Mr Trump get elected in part by hacking and releasing emails damaging to Mrs Clinton.
'No-one asked me for loyalty, I sure as heck didn't offer it'
In the aftermath of Mr Comey's firing, the Justice Department named Robert Mueller, himself a former FBI director, to serve as special counsel looking into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential race to help Mr Trump get elected and potential collusion between Moscow and Trump associates.
Mr Trump fired Mr Comey on May 9 and later cited the "Russia thing" as his reason — he has often called the Russia probe, which has dogged his first six months in office, a "witch-hunt".
"I do not consider Director Mueller to be on a witch-hunt," Mr Wray told Republican Graham.
Mr Wray and Mr Comey served together in the Justice Department under Republican former president George W Bush, and both worked on the Government's case in the Enron Corp fraud scandal in the early to mid-2000s.
Mr Wray said he was "very committed" to supporting Mr Mueller in the special counsel investigation, calling him "the consummate straight shooter and somebody I have enormous respect for".
Mr Wray said he spoke with no-one at the White House about Mr Comey's firing. He said no-one at the White House had demanded that he pledge his loyalty to Mr Trump, as Mr Comey said the President demanded of him, and said he would not give such an assurance if asked.
"My loyalty is to the Constitution, to the rule of law and to the mission of the FBI. And no-one asked me for any kind of loyalty oath at any point during this process, and I sure as heck didn't offer one," Mr Wray said.
Mr Comey previously testified to the same committee that Mr Trump pressed him in a one-on-one session to drop the FBI investigation into former national security advisor Michael Flynn's ties to Russia and said he felt he was fired in a bid by the President to undercut the investigation.
Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy asked Mr Wray: "If the President asks you to do something unlawful or unethical, what do you say?"
"First, I would try to talk him out of it. And if that failed, I would resign," Mr Wray said.
Reuters/ABC
Topics: donald-trump, world-politics, united-states