--- title: Christopher Wray: Donald Trump Didn't Ask For Loyalty Oath description: Christopher Wray, Trump's pick for FBI Director, said that no one in the White House had asked him for a loyalty pledge. canonical: https://time.com/4854755/donald-trump-fbi-director-christopher-wray-james-comey-loyalty/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-12T15:46:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:31:30.572Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump's FBI Pick 'Sure As Heck' Didn't Offer Loyalty Pledge og:description: After his predecessor, James Comey, said Trump demanded one og:url: https://time.com/4854755/donald-trump-fbi-director-christopher-wray-james-comey-loyalty/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt143d00d240f373b2/6988d550096a942fed69ebac/gettyimages-813281380.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing For FBI Director Nominee Christopher Wray og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump's FBI Pick 'Sure As Heck' Didn't Offer Loyalty Pledge twitter:description: After his predecessor, James Comey, said Trump demanded one twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt143d00d240f373b2/6988d550096a942fed69ebac/gettyimages-813281380.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump's FBI Pick 'Sure As Heck' Didn't Offer Loyalty Pledge > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jul 12, 2017 3:46 PM UTC  Christopher Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) nominee for U.S. President Donald Trump, listens during a Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, July 12, 2017. Christopher Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) nominee for U.S. President Donald Trump, listens during a Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, July 12, 2017. Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jul 12, 2017 3:46 PM UTC [President Donald Trump’s](http://time.com/4854413/bastille-day-2017-donald-trump-macron-france-paris/) pick to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday that nobody has asked him to take a loyalty pledge. “I sure as heck didn’t offer one,” said Trump FBI nominee [Christopher Wray](http://time.com/4851428/christopher-wray-fbi-director-senate-testimony/) during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday. He added that he would not make such a pledge if asked. [James Comey](http://time.com/4840352/house-intelligence-committee-president-donald-trump-james-comey-tapes-subpoena/), the former FBI Director who Trump abruptly fired in May, said during [congressional testimony](https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/os-jcomey-060817.pdf) last month that Trump had asked him for “total loyalty” during a private dinner at the White House in January. Comey has said he responded to Trump’s request by telling the President he would always give him “honesty.” Comey says Trump then responded, “That’s what I want, honest loyalty.” Shortly after Comey was fired, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to oversee an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and any possible collusion between Trump’s electoral campaign and the Russian government. Trump has repeatedly decried that investigation, as well as parallel inquiries from various congressional committees, as a political “witch hunt.” During his hearing Wednesday, Wray disagreed with Trump’s characterization of the investigations. “I do not consider Director Mueller to be on a witch hunt,” he said. Wray later added that if Trump asked him to do something unlawful, he would first try to discuss the matter with the President, and failing that, he would resign. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4854755/donald-trump-fbi-director-christopher-wray-james-comey-loyalty/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4854755/donald-trump-fbi-director-christopher-wray-james-comey-loyalty/"},"headline":"Trump's FBI Pick 'Sure As Heck' Didn't Offer Loyalty Pledge","datePublished":"2017-07-12T15:46:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:31:30.572Z","description":"After his predecessor, James Comey, said Trump demanded one","url":"https://time.com/4854755/donald-trump-fbi-director-christopher-wray-james-comey-loyalty/","keywords":["Law Enforcement","White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt143d00d240f373b2/6988d550096a942fed69ebac/gettyimages-813281380.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt143d00d240f373b2/6988d550096a942fed69ebac/gettyimages-813281380.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing For FBI Director Nominee Christopher Wray","caption":"Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing For FBI Director Nominee Christopher Wray","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/law-enforcement/","name":"Law Enforcement"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4854755/donald-trump-fbi-director-christopher-wray-james-comey-loyalty/","name":"Trump's FBI Pick 'Sure As Heck' Didn't Offer Loyalty Pledge"}}]}] ```