mr. wraycongratulations to you and your family on your nomination. this is an important day for you, your family and most importantly this is an important day for the country considering the importance of the fbi and law enforcement in america. so i welcome you, mr. wray and your family to the committee. the ranking member and i will give opening statements, then senator nunn will introduce the nominee. mr. wray will then give his opening statement and introduce anybody that he wants to that's here to support him and people that aren't here supporting him as well, and then after his opening statement we will turn to questions. as an accusation to the minority's request, we will have ten minute rounds for questions during the first round rather than the normal seven. the director of the federal bureau of investigation is charged with running a vast agency with tremendous power. this power if used appropriately could threaten the civil liberties of every american or if it's used inappropriately

mr. wrayed repeatedly to demonstrate that he will be independent of the president, that he won't express loyalty to the president, that if he's asked to do something by the president that he thinks is wrong, he'll stand up for what he thinks is right. these will be the main questions. now, as a practical matter, if he is confirmed, imagine the job he's going to have. he'll be the director of the fbi. robert mueller will be the special counsel running the investigation of russian election meddling. robert mueller, who served launch longer as the fbi director than anyone except j. edgar hoover, he was asked to stay on an extra two years, held over by popular demand. so it puts him in sort of a difficult position. he will not be the -- in other words, he will not bow te the m quarterback on this investigation, in which the fbi will play a very big role. while mueller has hired 16 lawyers and counting, he's also counting on fbi agents to do all the interviews and that kind of work. so it will be a

mr. wray and your family, to the committee. the ranking member and i will give opening statements and then senator nunn will introduce the nominee. mr. wray will then give his opening statement and introduce anybody that he wants to that's here to support him and people that aren't here supporting him, as well and after his opening statement, we will turn to questions. as an accommodation to the minority's request, we will have ten-minute rounds for questions during the first round rather than the normal seven. the director of the federal bureau of investigation is charged with running a fast agency with tremendous power. this power, if used appropriately, could threaten the civil liberties of every american or if it's used inappropriately, i should have said. however, when used appropriately and subject to a rigorous oversight by congress, it protects the nations from terrorists and from spies and from hardened criminals. the attorney general is commonly referred to as the top law enforcement

mr. wray, congratulations to you and your family on your nomination. this is an important day for you, your family and most importantly, this is an important day for the country considering the importance of the fbi and law enforcement in america. i welcome you, mr. wray and your family, to the committee. the ranking member and i will give opening statements and then senator nunn will introduce the nominee. mr. wray will then give his opening statement and introduce anybody that he wants to that's here to support him and people that aren't here supporting him, as well and after his opening statement, we will turn to questions. as an accommodation to the minority's request, we will have ten-minute rounds for questions during the first round rather than the normal seven. the director of the federal bureau of investigation is charged with running a fast agency with tremendous power. this power, if used appropriately, could threaten the civil liberties of every american or if it's used inappropria

mr. wray when his nomination comes to the floor. i also raised another item of importance, and perhaps more parochial to the region, but over the last number of years, there has been a very creative effort to move the fbi headquarters out of its downtowned building in washington, d.c., and move the headquarters to a location either in virginia or maryland. i have been a strong advocate of the virginia location, but the fact is that whether they were to move to virginia or maryland, the one thing that is absolutely ther is that this building, hoover building that was built during the time of president lyndon johnson and the beatles were still at the top of the charts, it is showing its age, and the 10,000 plus fbi employees who work in the building are not being well served without getting access to a new headquarters. the fact that congress has appropriated more than $900 million to move the process and it was a process strongly supported by fbi the men comey, to give and women who work in the

mr. wray, congratulations to you and your family on yourigation. nomination. this is an important day for you, your family and most importantly this is an important day for the country, considering ththe boards of the fbi and law enforcement in america. so i welcome you, mr. wray, and your from the committee. the ranking member and i willer give opening statements, and senator nunn will introduce thei nominee. mr. wray will then give his opening statement and introducee anybody that he wants to that is here to support him and people that are not here, supporting him as well. and then after his opening statement we will turn to questions. as an accommodation to the minorities request, we will have ten minute rounds for questions during the first round rather than the normal seven. the director of the federal bureau of investigation is charged with running a vast agency with tremendous power. agis power, if used appropriately, could threaten the civil liberties of every american, if it choose in

mr. wray, for meeting with me yesterday. i enjoyed our meeting. it was a good meeting. i actually, senator tillis, asked the question i wanted to ask, what the role going forward of the fbi is distinct from former director mueller's special prosecutor would be. you answered that question. but i'm glad that you answered that question saying that part of what the fbi will be doing is working so this doesn't happen again. i think we got to keep our eye on that ball, because 2018 will be upon us soon and we don't want this to happen again. now, before i turn to my questions, i'd like to first thank senator hatch for his work on the child protection improvement act, and i would thank you for your commitment to help us get that -- that bill passed and done. this is -- it helps organizations like organizations that do mentoring for kids, to get background checks, so that vulnerable -- this is also for people who work with seniors, for the elderly, they should be able to effectively screen their worke

mr. wray, congratulations to you and your family on your no, ma'am nak-- nomination. this is an important day for the country considering the importance of fbi and law enforcement in america. i welcome you, mr. ray and your family, to the committee. the ranking member and i will give omitting and then senator nunn will introduce anybody he wants to and then we will turn to questions. as an accommodation we will have ten minute rounds for questions during the first round rather than the normal 7 the director of the federal bureau of investigation is charged with running a vast agency this would threaten the civil libber -- or if it is used inappropriately i should have said. when use aid prop yacht-- appro attorney general is commonly referred to as the top law enforcement officer in our country. it requires calmness under significant pressure and a very level head. from what i have seen so far from meetings and from looking at his record he appear to possess these qualifications. he has an emp

these records will be included without objection. >> mr. wray, it is good to see your wife helen there, and your kids as well. our daughters are friends and i learned that your daughter flew in on the red eye and the fact that she's here as her testament to her devotion to her dad. and i know you to be a good person and devoted dad. and that's a pretty good start here. i thank you for your answers, particularly the recent discussion you had with senator sasse about the indisputable evidence that you have been able to see of the influencing of our election. i thought your opening statement reflected the fact that you understand the gravity of your task when you're coming in to lead an agency of people who put themselves on the front line every day without fear or favor. we owe it to them and we owe it to our country to bring back the trust in this government and washington. so my first question is, when you ran the criminal division in the justice department, did you ever receive a request from the president or other high-ranking officials to eve

praised mr. wray as a strong independent professional. these records will be included without objection. >> it is good to see your wife with you and your kids as well. our daughters are friends and i learned it from nonfbi sources that your daughter flew in on a redeye tonight and arrived at 4:30 a.m. and the fact that she kept her eyes open through this entire hearing is a testament to her devotion to her dad. on a more serious matter, i know you to be a decent person and a good and devoted dad, so i think that's a pretty good start here. i think you for your answers, particularly, the recent discussion by you've had with senator 's about evidence that you been able to see the russian influence in our election and the answers you've given other senators. i thought you were opening statement reflected that you understand the gravity of this role and people who put themselves on the front line every day without fear or favor. we owe it to them, but we also owe it to this country to bring back the trust

weijia jiang, cbs news on capitol hill. >> when mr. wray was in private prac governor chris christie in the bridge gate scandal and was the mastermind -- the mastermind will learn his fate in court today. a federal judge in new jersey is expected to hand down the sentence for wildstein, who used his position at the port authority to orchestrate the massive traffic jam as a payback against the mayor who wouldn't support new jersey's governor christie reelection bid, reportedly. >>> president donald trump response to allegations that his eldest son colluded with the russian government to get dirt on hillary clinton. the president tweeted that this is a witch hunt and anonymous news sources are often fake. tuesday, donald trump jr. tweeted an email chain to confirm press reports that he knew a meeting with the russian lawyer was part of the russian government's efforts to help mr. trump win the presidential election. [ chanting ] tomorrow. there are hopes that there will be a cbo number on it by the beginning of next week and that could be put

they wrote that mr. wray, quote, as a judgment, the integrity, independence, experience and commitment to the rule of law to be an excellent fbi director, end of quote. and we also support from larry thompson who served as deputy attorney general, bush administration, he wrote that mr. wray's, quote, dedication to public service and our great country is deep, admirable, and unparalleled and he praised mr. wray as a strong -- quote, unquote, strong independent professional. these records will be included without objection. senator klobuchar. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. thank you very much, mr. wray. it is good to see your wife helen there and your kids as well. our daughters are friends. and i learned from nonfbi sources that your daughter flew in on a red eye tonight and arrived at 4:30 a.m. and the fact that she's kept her eyes open through this entire hearing is a testament to her devotion to her dad. and on a more serious matter, i know you to be a decent person, and a good and devoted dad. so i

mr. wray for meeting with me yesterday, i enjoyed our meeting, it was a good meeting. actually senator tillis asked the kinds of questions i would ask is how the role is going forward distinct from former director mueller's process would be. and you answered that equestion. and i'm glad you answered that question saying that part of what the fbi will be doing is working so this doesn't happen again. because i think that we got to keep our eye on that ball. because 2018 will be upon us soon, and we don't want this to happen again. now before i turn to my questions, i would like to first thank senator hatch for his work on the child protection improvement act and i would thank you for your commitment to help us get that bill passed and done. this is -- it helps organizations like organizations that do mentoring for kids, to get background checks, so that vulnerable people and this is also for people who work with seniors, or for the elderly, they should be able to effectively screen their worker

mr. wray for meeting with me. i enjoyed our meeting yesterday. it was a good meeting. i senator tillis asked the kind of question i would want to ask which was what the role going forward of the fbi is distinct from former director mueller's special prosecutor would be. you answer that question, but i'm glad you answer that question, saying that part of what the fbi will be doing is working so this doesn't happen again. i think that we've gotta keep our eye on that ball. 2018 will be upon us soon and we don't want this to happen again. before he turned to my questions, i would like to first think senator hatch for his work on the child protection and improvement act and i would think you for your commitment to help us get that bill passed and done. it helps organizations for kids to get background checks, so vulnerable people, this is also for people they should be able to effectively screen their workers and their volunteers to make sure that they are trustworthy. thank you for your commitmen

>> south carolina republican senator lindsey graham asked what advice mr. wrayffer him if he were to receive a similar e-mail to the one received by donald trump jr., one saying that the russian government wants to help him get elected by providing incriminating information about his opponent. >> i would think you would want to consult with some good legal advisers before you did that. >> so the answer is, should i call the fbi? >> i think it would be wise. >> that answer did not quite cut it for mr. graham. >> you're the director of the fbi, pal. so here's what i want you to tell every politician. if you get a call from somebody suggesting that a foreign government wants to help you by disparaging your opponent, tell us all to call the fbi. >> we should all contemplate for a second what we witnessed today. democrats and republicans on the senate judiciary committee quizzing the likely next director of the fbi about the challenges he might face in maintaining the rule of law and basic norms of legal and ethical behavior, challenges that these senators clearly fe

i did watch the hearings yesterday and really liked mr. wray. when i watch these kind of , i kind for nominations of look to the view of how can i hel what side of the aisle is on? i could not tell. i think ms. johnson is right. has broad support, democrats and republicans. i think he is confident, he seemed like a man who would stick to his principles. he said if he was cornered by president trump that he would resign and that i just really like him. i watched my side of the aisle, like feinstein and mr. -- i forget his name -- they questioned him pretty hard. i really like him. i want to jump over a little bit to comparing it to jeff sessions. we all know that he was in the senate and he was a republican and i think i did see his, whenever he has been in a hearing, i've seen the republican side of him come out and i don't think that our justice department needs that. of course, everybody has a side. but when they are in a hearing, i don't believe it should show. host: that is interesting. joy, i don't know if you saw james comey's nomination h

mr. wray, will you commit to work with congress and with industry in a collaborative manner on the issue so we can find a solution that is workable for all sides? >> senator, i know that this is an issue that's been very important to you for a long time. we discussed it in our meeting. as we discussed then, i think this is one of the most difficult issues facing the country. there's a balance, obviously, that has to be struck between the importance of encryption, which i think we can all respect, when there's so many threats to our systems and the importance of giving law enforcement tools they immediate to keep us safe. i don't know as an outsider and nominee before this committee what the solution is. i do know we have to find a solution and my experience in trying to find solutions is that it's more productive for people to work together than to be pointing fingers blaming each other. that's the approach i have tried to take to almost every problem i have tackled. that's the approach i woul

mr. wray. >> i would like to defer to my colleague senator blumenthal. >> good afternoon mr. wray, thank you for your willingness to serve and your family's. i want to ask you a couple of questions and hope that you can give me answers that are as straight forward as you can, given the limitations of your position. in your view, is obstruction of justice a serious crime? >> absolutely. >> is your view that lying to the fbi is a serious crime? >> absolutely. >> and both should be investigated vigorously if there's evidence that they occurred? >> yes. >> to your knowledge, is there evidence that there has been perjury or obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation into russian interference in our elections 2016? >> i don't have knowledge to that effect, senator, but i think special counsel mueller would have jurisdiction over that. >> and the reason he's investigating is that there's sufficient evidence to warrant a special counsel, as i had vadvo at the very beginning of rod ros

i want to also point to an exchange that the nominee, mr. wray, had with, i believe it was senator ben sasse, because i think it was an important question here, because sasse said to him, if you are ever directed to shut down or curtail an investigation, will you report that to the committee? you know, saying, i want to get you on the record that if this were to ever occur, that if any questions were asked of you, such adds as the ones that james comey said were asked of him, would you tell us, and he said, yes. i would bring it to the attention of the appropriate people, including congress, and that's important. >> so, jim, what is the next step when it comes to the confirmation of christopher wray? >> well, we heard several senators come out of that room, including democrats, dianne feinstein saying i'm going to vote for him and you could tell by the feeling in the room that that committee is going to vote to move it on to the full senate. and again, based on his record, based on the bipartisan support already expressed about him before this he

mr. wray, you and i are going to be engaged in a little bit of a filibuster. i have some follow-up questions. there is a question i asked you very quickly about the shell company and the use of shell company, you answered it fine but i want to explain it, it is a very big deal to me. the treasury department has noted a specific rise in the use of shell company, foreign buyers use them as a way to hide their identity and safely conceal money in the u.s. it could be from any country. i raise this with the director comey when he testified last time, and your experience with white-collar cases, does the anonymity associated with the use of shell companies to buy real estate hurt the fbi's ability to trace the money and fight organized crime? >> certainly, those kinds of maneuvers, the created demand creation of shell companies and things like that are unfortunately an all too common way that criminals and others try to circumvent detection. certainly, i would think that the fbi needs to work with its partners in law enforcement, especially the treasury department,

what is the big question -- one of the big questions in the minds of senators when they talk to mr. wraynel, can a new director be as independent as he needs to be given the fact that jim comey lost his job over apparently an attempt to influence him? .on: time will tell these are very challenging times for the fbi, challenging times in our government. tomorrow, we get a sense of whether this congressional committee feels like they can trust what comes out of christopher wray's mouth. when he would like you provide us tomorrow our assurances about how he would view government , not only from the senate judiciary committee, but other committees on capitol hill , how he sees the relationship between himself and the attorney general, how he sees the relationship tween himself and the president of the united states. i would certainly expect to hear ways, relivet, in the last few months, where mr. wray's asked specific questions about how he would respond if given a similar set of circumstances at the white house that jim comey faced. david: would you similarly expect him to say what communic

mr. wray pledge to support the ongoing investigation of russian contt with donald trump's campaign. do you believe that? >> i think so. i do think he is a good choice. what we also know, and what he knows donald trump knows, donald trump can fire him. that is basically the elephant in the room. that is a reality. you can be a really good fbi director, and be terminated at the presidents will -- president 's will. like you and me, he reads the news, he sees the news, you know how sensitive the democrats will -- he knows how sensitive the democrats will be on this issue. he would like to slide through with the confirmation. host: he is aware of what is being reported. does that make his testimony more credible, or just more polish? >> he is a polished man. he also has plenty of government experience. when are they telling the truth? when are they putting spin? it takes a professional politician and administrator to figure that out. i think that he did make a good impression on the democrats, who have no reason to trust anyone coming from the trump white house, who would otherwise be r

they went well for mr. wray. he said he would not accept or was he even asked for any sort of loyalty oath. so he's going to be his own man. that was widely interpreted by democrats. dianne feinstein said she would support his nomination. secondly, you heard a brief reference on the part of our folks talking about janet yellen. she was on capitol hill. part of what you see going on at the corner of wall and broad despite the constitutional cross currents and the russians, you wouldn't see it in the dow. a new record today has to do with mrs. yellen. there's talk about the question came up from kevin corke that maybe, maybe a replacement for the federal reserve chairman would be gary cohn. miss sarah huckabee sanders said right now, there cohn is very happy in that job. what got the markets going, there might be one more hike this year. that was interpreted. it's not going to necessarily be -- it's always in the eyes of the beholder. tech stocks did well. if there's a fear that something is festering, watergate, c

now, mr. wray, will you commit to work with congress and stakeholders on the issues so that we can find a solution that is workable for all sides? >> senator, i know that this is issue that has been very important to you for a long time and we discussed it in our meeting. as we discussed then, i think this is one of the most difficult issues facing the country. there's a balance, obviously, that has to be struck between the importance of encryption, which i think we can all respect. so many threats to our systems. and the importance of giving law enforcement the tools that they lawfully need to keep us all safe. and, so, i don't know sitting here today as an outsider and nominee before this committee what the solution is, but i do know that we have to find a solution and my experience in trying to find solutions is that it's more productive for people to work together than to be pointing fingers blaming each other. and that's the approach i tried to take to almost every problem i tackled and that's

we'll speak to a democratic, in fact, the one that you just heard questioning mr. wray16 seconds. i am totally blind. and non-24 can make me show up too early... or too late. or make me feel like i'm not really "there." talk to your doctor, and call 844-234-2424. . >>> well, as promised, joining me now is democratic senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island. as you saw there, among those who questioned the fbi director pick today. welcome back to the show. >> good to be back. >> so i just read your statement after the hearing. you sound like not a reluctant yes, you sound like a fairly enthusiastic yes for mr. wray as fbi director. >> yeah. i think he did a very good job in the hearing today. i think he hit all the right notes about protecting the independence of the fbi. i think he clearly recognized the pressures that the trump administration is putting the department of justice under and i think even in areas of recognizing the mistakes that comey made, without throwing his friend and former colleague under the bus, he handled himself very well. >> why do you trust

mr. wray's confirmation hearing this morning. >> do you affirm that the testimony you're about to give before the committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? >> i do. >> thank you very much. i think i more or less introduced you in my opening comments. so i think now whatever time you take for the usual thing is for a statement but also it's quite usual in this committee that any introductions you want to make you can appropriately make those. that's your decision. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> proceed. >> mr. chairman, senator feinstein, members of the committee, thank you for the privilege of appearing before you today. i also want to thank senator -- for that really very kind introduction. there's no way i could contemplate undertaking an endeavor like this without the love and support of my family. with me here today is my wife helen, both of our kids, carolyn and trip, my parents, my sister, my niece, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law and two of their children. a commitment like this affects the whole family. and i have no words to adequatel

under questioning from members of the senate, mr wray said he did not consider the investigation intomer president, luiz ignacio lula da silva, has been sentenced to 9.5 years in prison after being found guilty of accepting bribes worth more than a million dollars in the form of a renovated beach resort apartment. his lawyers say he will appeal against the sentence. and here in london, the king and queen of spain have attended a state banquet at buckingham palace. king felipe earlier addressed both houses of parliament. he said he was confident the uk and spain could reach an agreement over the future of gibraltar. now it is time for click. this week: is this the smartest building in italy?

under questioning from members of the senate, mr wray said he did not consider the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election to be a witch hunt, as president trump has claimed. brazil's former president, luiz ignacio lula da silva, has been sentenced to 9.5 years in prison after being found guilty of accepting bribes worth more than a million dollars in the form of a renovated beach resort apartment. his lawyers say he will appeal against the sentence. and here in london, the king and queen of spain have attended a state banquet at buckingham palace. king felipe earlier addressed both houses of parliament. he said he was confident the uk and spain could reach an agreement over the future of gibraltar. now it is time for click. this week: is this the smartest building in italy? the latest worker drones. and, beat this, a hearty handful. on july 12th, the internet, as we know it, will change. go to amazon, twitter, reddit or many other sites and you could be asked to wait on a slower connection, or pay extra, or you may be blocked altogether. thankfully, these warning

under questioning from members of the senate, mr wray said he did not consider the investigation intoormer president, luiz ignacio lula da silva, has been sentenced to 9.5 years in prison after being found guilty of accepting bribes worth more than a million dollars in the form of a renovated beach resort apartment. his lawyers say he will appeal against the sentence. iraqi government forces are continuing operations against suspected members of the islamic state group in western mosul two days after victory was declared over the jihadists. eyewitnesses say that military helicopters have fired at areas where some is fighters are still believed to be holding out. now on bbc news, it's wednesday in parliament.

under questioning from members of the senate, mr wray said he did not consider the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election to be a witch hunt, as president trump has claimed. brazil's former president, luiz ignacio lula da silva, has been sentenced to 9.5 years in prison after being found guilty of accepting bribes worth more than a million dollars in the form of a renovated beach resort apartment. his lawyers say he will appeal against the sentence. iraqi government forces are continuing operations against suspected members of the islamic state group in western mosul two days after victory was declared over the jihadists. eyewitnesses say that military helicopters have fired at areas where some is fighters are still believed to be holding out. now on bbc news, it's wednesday in parliament. hello there, and welcome to the programme. coming up in the next half—hour: there's a different look to pmqs, but some familiar questions for the government about the brexit negotiations. as a country, we have got 20 months to go until brexit. we absolutely have got to get a gr

mr wray promised he would insulate the bureau from any outside, political interference.for his thoughts on donjr‘s meeting with the russian lawyer. republican senator lindsey graham wanted to know what the president's son should have done. you're going to be the director of the fbi, so here's what i want you to tell every politician. if you get a call from somebody suggesting that a foreign government wants to help you by disparaging your opponent, tell us all to call the fbi. to the members of this committee, any threat or effort to interfere with our elections from any nation state or any non—state actor is the kind of thing the fbi would want to know. that is reassuring for those people on the committee. but what i want to know, you could say donald jr is a private citizen, jared kushner, who is copied on these e—mails is a special adviser to the white house, as close as you get to the president and he knew what was in the e—mail. so how come his position is not hanging bya so how come his position is not hanging by a thread? the question is does he keep his security

to getct mr. wray questions about the russian election and his decision to remain independent from the white house. relied coverage begins on c-span3. >> sunday on q&a. >> i not asking anybody to come from ice their beliefs. i'm asking them to open their eyes to other people to you can figure out your place in this infinite world. gladstone, cohost and managing editor of the view n.y.c.'s on the media. thediscusses her book trouble with reality, a rumination on moral and in our time, in which she looks at what constitutes reality today and have a criteria has changed over the years. >> i set up at the beginning of the book our logical wiring -- biological wiring, and i wanted to show how we evolved as a that was designed to validate us and not challenge us, certainly not contradict us. ourave us the illusion that realities were watertight when really, they were riddled with weak spots and places that would crunch in. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span's q&a. c-span's washington journal live ever

. >> mr. wray talks about independence. i would like to see some independent thinking here. the establishment approach, mueller and russian collusion. mueller ought to be able to do his job. or whether there should be a special counsel to begin with. it would be nice to have an f.b.i. director under a trump administration who is a reformer and questions these basic premises that are so suspect. which is why we have a special counsel. whether the new f.b.i. director is going to take on the bureaucracy at the f.b.i. and address the issues that have arising, i wish he was more brave and had more of a reformist ad attitude rather than saying meet the new boss the same as the old boss. there is nothing new about the way wray approaches his job from comey and mueller. i don't think those directorships worked out well in protecting the american people or from waste, fraud and abuse. trish: it has been politicized for sure. bill, you are just overall thoughts on christopher wray and whether he will be able to do a decent job. it sounds like tom is concerned because he thinks it's th

mr. wrayto have to, as a society, both the fbi, the justice department, this committee and others, industry, our foreign partners -- we are going to have to find solutions to these problems, because the role of technology is overtaking us all. i'm committed to work with everyone to find a solution. emily: sticking with the fbi, one former consultant to the fbi's senior management team is now the ceo of the cybersecurity firm flashpoint. josh lefkowitz executes the company's strategic vision to empower organizations with business risk intelligence derived from the deep dark web. earlier today, the company announced the close of a series $28 million c funding round. josh joins us now live from new york. josh, you are ability to see deeply into the dark web has been touted. what gives you any special ability over the other firms? josh: what we do at flashpoint is, first and foremost, understand our customers' requirements. we work with customers across 18 different verticals, from financial servi

in the end, senators of both parties seemed assured. >> thank you very much, mr. wray. i'm looking around, i'm feeling that you've had a good hearing today. and best of luck to you, sir. >> thank you, senator, that means a lot. >> reporter: if confirmed, wray would be eighth permanent director of the f.b.i. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: why so many russians from the country's southern region are joining isis. a view from both sides of the political aisle, on the russian controversy plaguing the trump administration. and from dirt to shirt-- bringing the business of cotton back to the u.s. but first, researchers have been watching for months, waiting for a huge iceberg to break away from an ice shelf in antarctica. that break was confirmed today. and just to give you a sense of the size: the volume of the iceberg is said to be twice as large as lake erie. miles o'brien has been watching all this and digging into the larger questions about the ice shelf. it's part of our weekly reporting about "the leading

. >> if he said i want loyalty from you mr. wray?. >> i would consider that a significant i was not asked to take a loyalty oath but i would refuse that. >> i heard your testimony about that in the past so as a pledge of loyalty and that is a conversation worth reporting to this committee. >> the conversation like that i would take very seriously with all the right people. >> you have been announced about the emails from donald trump, jr. that have come to light recently. in in your view could be evidence of criminal intent intent?. >> and hasn't had a chance to read these newspaper coverage i cannot responsibly answer that question. to you to be in a number of them? including universal background check. >> i will look at any specific legislative proposal and give back to you but i do support efforts to deal with gun violence and with the leadership is consistent with that but with the universal background checks i would not rule out any common-sense ghana reform legislation but i have to review that based on the circumstances as that

. >> thank you very much, mr. wray. i think you can finally get some lunch here. i wanted to thank you and to make sure you know that you have a lot of support here. i am going to be supporting you as a number of my colleagues are. i think your answers earlier explaining your opposition to torture of any kind was very important. when senator feinstein asked you those questions. i also think that the answers that you gave to many of the senators about the independence of the fbi was very compelling and heartfelt, and that meant a lot. because i don't have to tell you that you're coming in at a time that is unprecedented, where you've had the director of the fbi fired, the then acting attorney general a few months ago fired. and as someone that's been in law enforcement and believes that law enforcement has to have people that are in charge that follow the law and care about the law and believe in our democracy more than anything, it couldn't be a more important time for you to be coming into this agency. i think that you saw the bipartisan nature of the questions a

. >> you have worked with mr. wray. at's your take on how he would handle the job as fbi director? and what's he like as a person? >> well, you know, i worked at the justice department with chris wray and he was the chief of staff to larry thompson. he was one of the counsel's on larry thompson's staff. and he was the consequence mat chief of staff. he was there to do the work, to be responsible, does not look for the flash and for the light, is really about the grind, really getting the work done. he is a consummate law enforcement officer and has made a life career of that. that's who he is. >> sounds like that may explain some of why so many of your colleagues, democrats, have come out already and said they'll vote for him. and i hope you're forgive me. i want to change gears on you just a little bit because we have some new video of president trump. this is the first time we've seen him in public in several days. he did an interview with cbn. let's take a look and then we'll talk about it on the other side. >> you we

diannehe ranking member, feinstein, told reporters she would vote to confirm mr. wray. terron relief is on its way to -- humanitarian relief is ,n its way to an embattled city delivering food to rule areas north of the city. u.s.-backed syrian forces are trying to drive the islamic its self-declared capital. investigators are still trying to figure out why a military plane crashed in mississippi monday night, killing 16 military members. the degree spread over several miles across the countryside -- the debris spread over several miles. there is a criminal investigation against at least one person for taking debris. one of the largest icebergs ever reported has broken off and ice shelf in antarctica, weighing more than one trillion tons, twice the volume of lake eerie. scientists say it is premature to say whether climate change caused the break. global news 24 hours a day, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am mark crumpton. scarlet: coming up, we'll port be the next multibillion-dollar trend of the gaming industry? robert

first of all he says, mr wray, he has no reason to doubt the intelligence agencies when they say russialer, a witchhunt. as a result of those two comments, he's already on a collision course, the president does not agree with those two ideas. the president must find himself isolated, in this position, that the russians did not interfere, there were doubts, other countries interfere, but i think any reasonable person reading those e—mails between don junior and reasonable person reading those e—mails between donjunior and his contact, promising a russian government attorney with negative information on hillary clinton were pretty clear evidence there was some connection, some attempt to meddle between russia and the trump campaign. wray just stating between russia and the trump campaign. wrayjust stating the fa cts campaign. wrayjust stating the facts and latin american believe, russia interfered in our election, and they may do it again. only a matter of time before the various congressional committees, looking into possible russian involvement in the american election campaign last yea

i think mr. wrayd in his commentary about the ongoing investigation, recognizing that it's being led by bob mueller now and i think he'll be overall guarded in his commentary, and would be overall suggestion that the facts will lead the way for the fbi. and when they are all in place, that's the point that the fbi will make its conclusions, or determination. >> federal election law says a foreign national shall not directly or indirectly make a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or expressly or implied with promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with any federal, state or local election based on the e-mails that you saw yesterday, was there any risk of any risk of violation there in federal election law >> sounds like the risk is on the foreign national although certainly one can i think find their way to a conclusion that donald trump jr. and others in the room were complicit in the conversation, whether that rises to criminality i think we are a long way fr

mr. comey. that was a politicized mess. it is up to christopher wrayitution, get on the business of taking the fbi out of politics, am i right? >> you're absolutely right. i think that is the key, hear a lot of word being used of being independent, talking about his loyalty as you had mentioned to the constitution and the rule of law. how he really will rely on the men and women in the fbi to help him in his job. so i think that the key for wray is staying away from the political discussions which we know was something that comey could not resist. he could not resist the limelight. he could not resist the politics. stuart: the only reason that we have got this on our screens at all is to see if the democrats can lay a glove on christopher wray. can they penetrate his legalized defense system? so far no. >> no they can't. he is very uncombly like. president trump called comey a showboat. he would walk a mile for a camera. this guy christopher is exactly the polar opposite. he is very low-key. he likes to diffuse situations rather than escalate and eleva

mr. trump's nominee to succeed comey. christopher wray.ef congressional correspondent nancy cordes is on o pitol hill. >> no one asked me for any kind of loyalty oath at any point k ring this process, an i sure >> heck didn't offer one. >> reporter: christopher wray told senators today he's been assured he won't face the kind of presidential pressure his predecessor outlined in a series of memos. >> if the president asks you to do something unlawful or unethical, what do you say? >> first, i would try the talk him out of it. and if that failed, i would .esign. >> reporter: wray says he met with president trump and top aides twice last month. >> i went into both meetings listening very carefully to make sure that i didn't hear something that would make me uncomfortable. ad reporter: wray headed the rtstice department's criminal division before entering private practice. he was new jersey governor chris christie's personal lawyer during the bridgegate scandal. but he is seen by both sides as restraight shooter. >> i did not consider director

on comey's claim the president asked him for pledge of loyalty, wray said he met with mr.rump at the white house along with justice department officials and had a different experience. >> no one asked me for any kind of loyalty oath at any point during this process. i sure as heck didn't offer one. >> you would not give one if asked? >> correct. reporter: wray was asked if like comey he would be uncomfortable in a one-on-one? >> would you meet in the oval office with the president with no one else present? >> i think it would depend on the circumstances, senator. i think it would be highly unlikely but i think there, i could imagine a situation where there would be some national security matter where it might call for it. reporter: president supports the use of controversial interrogation tactics critics labeled torture, wray laid out his position. >> torture is wrong. it is unacceptable. it is illegal and i think it is ineffective. reporter: the fired fbi director did not escape criticism for his 2016 decision that he publicly laid out evidence that hillary clinton mishan