Posted on 07/12/2017 5:27:36 PM PDT by Pinkbell
Wray's task Wednesday was to convince the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will vote to send his nomination to the full Senate for approval, that he'd rather get fired than bend to political pressure. And he attempted to do just that. Here are four key takeaways from the hearing:
1) Trump could fire Wray, too.
(Snip)
2) Wray said he'd probably resign first if things got really sticky Trump's firing of Comey because of “this Russia thing” spooked members of Congress.
(Snip)
3) Wray and Trump are polar opposites on some big issues Trump thinks torture works; Wray thinks torture is “wrong” and “ineffective.”
Trump thinks the investigation into him and his presidential campaign is “the greatest Witch Hunt of a politician in American history. Sad!” Wray said he does “not consider Director Mueller to be on a witch hunt. "
Trump's allies have tried to discredit Mueller as Trump has toyed with firing him; Wray says Mueller is a “consummate straight shooter.”
Trump won't say whether Russia alone meddled in the U.S. election; Wray says he has “no reason whatsoever to doubt the assessment of the intelligence community” that Russia did meddle.
Trump thinks Comey was a “nut job;” Wray doesn't: “In all my dealing with Jim Comey, he was a terrific lawyer, a dedicated public servant and a wonderful colleague.” Trump shared highly classified information with Russians; Wray says it'd be extremely dangerous to share classified information that could put U.S. sources abroad at risk.
4) Wray thinks the Trump administration should have handled its Russia interactions differently Wray wouldn't comment specifically on news that Donald Trump Jr. met with a Russian lawyer to get dirt on Hillary Clinton.
But he did underscore that it was probably not a good idea by saying two things in particular:
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
And, that any politician who gets approached by Russia (or Ukraine) about their election shouldn't just take the meeting. Legal red flags should go up and they should call the FBI. Wray: “Any threat or any effort to interfere in our election from any nation state or nonstate actor is the kind of thing the FBI would want to know.”
5) It doesn't look like he'll have a problem getting confirmed.
The Washington Post likes him, and that makes me very nervous. I am happier when the Washington Post is in a frothing rage and spitting out character assassination pieces.
I don't know what Trump talked about in the interview with him or if he could talk about certain things. Sometimes it seems with Trump's picks that he picks someone with a great resume but not necessarily someone who aligns with his way of thinking.
First, some of these answers actually seemed a bit twisted out by Lindsey Graham. He basically would ask him a question and then tell him what he should say. That said, he praised Comey:
“In all my dealing with Jim Comey, he was a terrific lawyer, a dedicated public servant and a wonderful colleague.”
He supports Mueller and his Rhode Island U.S. attorney's office sized Democrat anti-Trump staff investigation:
Trump thinks the investigation into him and his presidential campaign is “the greatest Witch Hunt of a politician in American history. Sad!” Wray said he does “not consider Director Mueller to be on a witch hunt. "
Also, he accepts the Russian narrative as do Pompeo and Coats.
Now maybe these are things he has to say to get through confirmation, but praising the swamp creature Comey makes me worry we have a new swamp creature. He has faith in Mueller and his leaky investigation and liberal loaded attorney panel.
I along with many others are skeptical of this Russian hacking story, and I would like an FBI director or someone in intelligence who isn't afraid of the deep state, bad press headlines, or repercussions to really conduct a full investigation.
I really wish Trump would have picked someone like Giuliani or a strong conservative willing to buck the establishment and drain the swamp, get rid of the leakers, etc. The picks heading these intelligence agencies are not draining the swamp. Maybe this guy is saying what he has to say, but I doubt it.
Thoughts on him?
Trump picked a guy who from the little I know is an honorable man and who is low key enough that hopefully he can get through the nomination and voted in........So far I have no issue with him
For one thing, he thinks the FBI is independent and not required to answer to the President.
He kept saying that. He’s no good.
Why don’t we just cut and paste all the Gorsuch concern-posts? Then we can just replace Gorsuch with Wray, and we’re all set. We’ll have saved a little time and a lot of energy—win-win.
And he hasn’t spent a day in law enforcement, but hey!
a waste of time,, imho
pardon Sheriff Joe and give him the job..
Uh, oh. Not good.
Sheriff Joe would never make it through confirmation. Sheriff Clark would be excellent, but he probably wouldn’t either because you’d have your Grahams and McCains that would vote no.
Maybe Mueller is a straight shooter.
We thought so of Comedy...once.
Under the law his close, personal relationship with Comedy should cause him to recuse himself.
Why has no one asked him about this?
He gets my support when I FINALLY see rat indictments. Until then he is just another swamp creature to me.
Blowing smoke up their collective butts or is a swamp creature. Wray knows that the president can legally and Constitutionally direct him to do investigations and activities. He's not as 'independant' as he tells Linda Graham and the other pompous senators who always want to seperate presidential appointees from Repub presidents, which goes doubly for Trump with these clowns.
I haven’t watched it all yet, but I can offer some links to his testimony if that helps:
WATCH LIVE: FBI director nominee Chris Wray Senate confirmation hearing (4hrs 37min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NLK4fTGN9g
WATCH LIVE: FBI director nominee Chris Wray Senate confirmation hearing in 3 minutes (Wapo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PheOEZ6No0
Why don’t we just cut and paste all the Gorsuch concern-posts? Then we can just replace Gorsuch with Wray, and we’re all set. We’ll have saved a little time and a lot of energy—win-win.
You could do the same with Mueller “concern posts”. How did that one work out?
Boom! that’s the money quote right there. Thank you.
Iow when he changes the FIB back to the FBI
Simple. If the WaPo thinks his testimony was "principled," then I'm against him.
Thought he was a fawning pansy.
“Trump shared highly classified information with Russians”
So the post throws this lie into the story like it’s fact, cute. That said, unless this article is a total fabrication he seems like a terrible pick. He should keep that Rat McCabe in there. Wray praises Mueller who has hired nothing but Rat hacks and flaunts the law against have a relationship with a principal in that he best of friends with Comey. I’ll say it again, they had plenty of cause to replace Mueller but didn’t. They are going to regret it count on it. I’ll bet the Trump Jr story was leaked by Mueller’s team.
I think he is an a$$hole.
Says waterboarding is torture and should be illegal (no ifs ands or buts). Says Mueller is not on a witch hunt (prejudgment is great in an investigator).
No one gave Trump an once ounce of credit for appointing such a down the middle guy. He could have easily been appointed by a Democrat.
Graham has got to go (been saying it too long)
Right, he gets no credit putting in a guy who the Rats might have picked. Trump just seems unwilling to go on offense. He needed to put someone in there who was at least a little on the same page as he is.
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