Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to have President Donald Trump's nominee for FBI director, Christopher Wray, confirmed before the August recess, Politico reported.
"Even though Senate Democrats have brought unprecedented obstruction to the nominations process this year for no good reason, we hope they do not sink to a new low and force the first-ever cloture vote on an FBI director nominee," a McConnell spokesman said.
Although Republicans do not require any Democrats to confirm Wray, they do need their cooperation for a speedy vote, as the rules state that even one senator can seek a delay in the vote by a week.
Trump nominated Wray last month to replace former FBI Director James Comey, whom the president fired in May. The Hill reported that Wray, who headed the Justice Department's criminal division under former President George W. Bush, earned the backing of some Democrats after having his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.
Wray won over some of the senators by displaying his independence from Trump in declaring that he had "no reason to doubt" the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusions that Russia meddled in the American presidential elections, and that he does not consider Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into the matter to be a "witch hunt," as Trump has said he does, The Atlantic reported.
The committee is set to vote Thursday on whether to advance Wray's nomination.
McConnell already has delayed the start of the August recess by two weeks, which means the Senate majority leader will have extra time to achieve his goal of getting Wray confirmed.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.