Heinrich Statement On Confirmation Vote Of New FBI Director

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, issued the following statement after voting to confirm Christopher Wray to be the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who will replace Acting Director Andrew McCabe who replaced James Comey who was fired by President Donald Trump:

“It’s deeply troubling we are in this position in the first place. President Trump’s dismissal of FBI Director Comey was a direct attack on the integrity and independence of the FBI. The responsibility of the FBI Director is to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States, not pledge allegiance to President Trump. It is my hope that Christopher Wray will fulfill his duties in this important role and bring to light any effort to interfere with the investigations into Russian collusion with the Trump campaign. History will judge severely those of us tasked with finding the whole truth and determining conclusively whether or not associates of the Trump campaign cooperated or coordinated with Russia’s attempt to undermine our American democracy. We cannot allow political pressure or unsubstantiated distractions to get in the way of following the facts.”