On June 7th Donald Trump tweeted at 4:40 a.m. EDT, "I will be nominating Christopher A. Wray, a man of impeccable credentials, to be the new Director of the FBI. Details to follow."
Hours after the Twitter post, the White House followed up with an official statement in which Trump reiterated that Mr. Wray was “an impeccably qualified individual,” and cited his role in major fraud investigations and antiterrorism efforts at the Justice Department after the 9/11 attacks.
“I know that he will again serve his country as a fierce guardian of the law and model of integrity once the Senate confirms him to lead the F.B.I.,” Trump said in the statement.
Long story short, in over two weeks not a shred of paperwork has gone to the Senate, so it's pretty clear that the knee jerk reaction of people to the Wray announcement, i.e., that it was done to distract from the Comey testimony scheduled for June 8th, was in fact the correct perception. Of course it hasn't helped that various media outlets reported that Wray's law firm has Russian oil companies for clients, nor that the ACLU pointing out that the fact that Wray was Chris Christie's Bridgegate lawyer didn't exactly imbue the man with the aura of impartiality. Nor did the fact that his law firm subsequently erased the names of the two Russian oil companies from its client roster especially inspire confidence. But don't despair, no news is good news, and it looks like the Wray nomination isn't going any place any time soon. Details from The Daily Beast:
The fact that Trump announced Wray as his pick the day before Comey’s testimony drew immediate criticism, as it appeared he was trying to use the FBI announcement for political benefit. That was particularly troubling to federal law enforcement, who take pride in keeping their work separate from politics.
And now, the fact that Trump still hasn’t nominated Wray just underscores concerns that he’s already using the FBI for political ends.“He talks, Trump does, about the premiere law enforcement agency in the world and yet -- I don’t know, I just don’t understand how he operates,” said a retired FBI agent.
“To me, it’s another example of the guy’s total lack of respect and understanding for the way government operates,” he added.Painter, who also serves on the board of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the president’s premature announcement of Wray came so early because of the blowback he faced for firing Comey.
“The whole thing is tarnished,” he said.
Of course the White House, when asked where the confirmation process stood indicated that all was going according to plan and that it takes a while for a high level appointment like FBI Director to be fully vetted. It took the Bush administration four weeks to confirm Robert Mueller and it took five weeks for the Obama administration to confirm James Comey. Mark your calendars accordingly. Or you may call Paddy Power in Dublin and lay odds one way or the other about the confirmation because Paddy Power takes all bets when it comes to the Trump administration, including the one at 5 to 1 odds that Trump will be impeached in 2018.