Trump's FBI director pick goes through Senate hearing

FBI Director nominee Christopher Wray testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 12, 2017, at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. [Photo: AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais]

Christopher Wray, U.S. President Donald Trump's pick for FBI director, has vowed to pledge loyalty to the rule of law and uphold the independence of the intelligence agency. During the Senate hearing on his nomination on Wednesday, Wray was also pressured on Trump Jr.'s emails and other thorny issues. 

Our Washington chief correspondent Xiaohong has the story.

Despite the low profile twitter announcement of his nomination, Chris Wray's confirmation hearing on Wednesday turned out to be a highlight event, thanks to the dramatic ouster of former FBI director James Comey and the latest reveal of a meeting between President Trump's family and a Russian lawyer. 

In his opening testimony, Wray vowed to be loyal to the law and uphold the spirit of independence of the FBI.

"My loyalty is to the Constitution and the rule of law. Those have been my guideposts throughout my career, and I will continue to adhere to them no matter the test."

The loyalty pledge was mentioned several times during former FBI director James Comey's testimony after he was dismissed abruptly by President Trump in May.

But Wray said Wednesday that nobody asked him to take a loyalty oath and he would not if asked.

He also denounced the President's claim that the Russian collusion investigation was a political witch hunt.

Wray was grilled on the latest email reveal of the President's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who confessed that he accepted the idea of meeting a Russian lawyer last year during the campaign as the lawyer through an intermediary promised to provide some information that was sensitive to Trump's campaign rival, former State Secretary Hillary Clinton. The information was said to be coming from the Russian government. 

"Any threat or effort to interfere with our election from any nation state or any non-state actor is the kind of thing that the FBI would want to know."

Wray's stance on these critical issues has won the support from senators on both sides of the aisle.