Everything You Should Know About The Man Who Could Replace Comey As FBI Director

The FBI could have a new leader very soon. Christopher Wray, a 50-year-old former federal prosecutor, is Trump's pick to be the new FBI director. The president nominated him in late June, about three weeks after he unexpectedly tweeted that Wray was his choice to lead the agency.

On Wednesday, Wray appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation hearing. He answered questions about the inquiry into the possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia and whether he'll be able to keep the FBI's independence as a nonpartisan agency when faced with pressure from the White House.

After all, former FBI Director James Comey believes Trump fired him because of the Russia investigation. (Trump himself confirmed in an interview after the firing that he was thinking about the inquiry when he decided to let Comey go.)

If Wray is confirmed by the Senate, he will oversee this investigation and spend up to 10 years leading the top law enforcement agency in the country.

So, who is Wray? Ahead, we list everything you should know about him.

Wray graduated from the Yale Law School in 1992 and joined King and Spalding, an Atlanta-based law firm.

Five years later, he became an assistant U.S. attorney in Georgia. Then, in 2001, he joined the Department of Justice. There, he worked his way up to the position of assistant attorney general in charge of the department’s criminal division, a position to which he was nominated by President Bush in 2003.

He left the DOJ in 2005 and returned to King and Spalding, where he is now a partner. He primarily works as a defense attorney in white-collar cases.

According to Newsweek, another partner in Wray's firm, Bobby Burchfield, serves as an ethics adviser to the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, which the president established to hold his business assets while he's in office.

It's unclear if Wray has worked on cases related to this trust or the Trump Organization in general.

In March 2004, Comey was the deputy attorney general filling in as the acting attorney general while then-Attorney General Josh Ashcroft was hospitalized. Comey and Robert Mueller, the current special counsel who was FBI director at the time, threatened to resign during an impasse with the White House.

The Bush administration wanted to expand the National Security Agency’s domestic wiretapping program; Comey and other top Justice Department officials had concerns over whether using warrantless wiretaps was legal.

"Look, I don't know what's going on, but before you guys all pull the rip cords, please give me a heads-up so I can jump with you," Wray, who was then an assistant attorney general, reportedly told Comey.

Eventually Comey and Mueller withdrew their resignation threats when President Bush agreed to make changes that fell in line with Comey's recommendations.

Wray is a registered Republican and has donated more than $50,000 to GOP candidates since 2007.

While in the Department of Justice, Wray worked on investigations that ranged from the 9/11 terror attacks to overseeing drug trafficking, child pornography, and intellectual property cases while he led the criminal division.

Most recently, he acted as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's personal attorney during the Bridgegate case. Close allies of the Republican governor were found guilty of engineering lane closures at the George Washington Bridge in retaliation against a Democratic mayor. Christie was never charged in the case and has maintained he was not involved.

At the end of today's hearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee didn't say when it would vote on a recommendation for the rest of the Senate. Once that vote takes place, the committee will send a report to the Senate outlining either a favorable or unfavorable recommendation for Wray's nomination. There's also a chance it can send a report with no recommendation whatsoever. After that, the full Senate can vote to confirm Wray.

It's unclear if there will be a vote before the August recess.