After weeks of speculation regarding whom Donald Trump would name as F.B.I. director—and who would accept the position after James Comey’s controversial ouster—the president announced via Twitter on Wednesday that he will nominate Christopher Wray to lead the nation’s top law enforcement agency. Wray, in many ways, appears a well-pedigreed choice. He served as an attorney general of the Justice Department’s criminal division under President George W. Bush, where he reportedly worked with longtime Trump ally and campaign surrogate Chris Christie. More recently, of course, Wray represented the New Jersey governor during the infamous, and seemingly never-ending, Bridgegate scandal.

Following Comey’s ouster, fears grew that Trump would tap a malleable ally who might politicize the agency. But Trump seems prepared to do the latter himself. After all, his announcement comes one day before Comey’s highly anticipated testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, during which he is expected to discuss a series of questionable interactions with the president prior to his firing. This includes one private conversation in which Trump allegedly asked the then-F.B.I. director to end his agency’s investigation into Mike Flynn, his former national-security adviser who resigned amid scandal in February.

Wray reportedly beat out John Pistole, who previously served as the deputy director of the F.B.I. and head of the Transportation Security Administration. Former Democratic senator and vice-presidential nominee Joseph Lieberman; F.B.I. special agent Adam Lee, who heads the bureau’s Richmond, Virginia field office; Richard McFeely, a former senior official at the agency; and Andrew McCabe, the acting F.B.I. director, were also in the running for the position, according to The New York Times.

Wray’s appointment suggests the increasing influence of Christie, a former Trump foe-turned-ally, who reportedly found himself in the crosshairs of Jared Kushner. Last month, my colleague Emily Jane Fox reported that Christie offered Kushner legal advice regarding the handling of the White House’s Russia scandal. Representatives for both Christie and Kushner denied that this conversation took place.