Story highlights Wray has never worked at the FBI, but previously served as a top official at the Justice Department

Wray currently works as a white-collar defense attorney

(CNN) In nominating Christopher Wray to be the next FBI chief, President Donald Trump immediately thrust a low-profile white collar defense lawyer into the public spotlight.

Wray's credentials are classic establishment: a Yale Law School graduate and executive editor of the law review, law clerk to a conservative federal judge, longtime federal prosecutor for decades and top official in the Justice Department under President George W. Bush.

He currently works at King & Spalding as a litigation partner, specializing in the defense of individuals and corporations in white-collar criminal cases -- and even represented New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie during the "Bridgegate" investigation into lane closures at the George Washington Bridge.

"The President asked us to look for an FBI director who has integrity, who understands and is committed to the rule of law, and who is dedicated to protecting the American people from crime, gangs, and terrorists," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement Wednesday. "We have found our man in Chris Wray."

And while Wray was never one of the more public-facing Trump supporters, he has given more than $50,000 to Republican candidates, committees, and his law firm's PAC since 2007, including to John McCain in 2008, Mitt Romney in 2012 and the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2016, Federal Election Commission records show.

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