President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he will nominate former federal prosecutor Christopher Wray ’89 LAW ’92 to be the next FBI director, selecting a Yale graduate to serve at the helm of the nation’s premier law enforcement agency.

Wray, a Washington-based criminal defense lawyer, previously oversaw the Justice Department’s criminal division as an assistant attorney general under President George Bush ’68. As its head from 2003 until 2005, Wray pursued sensitive corruption and fraud investigations.

Yale Law School Professor Steven Duke LAW ’61, who knew Wray as a student and clerked with his father on the Supreme Court, called Wray “a fine lawyer and public servant.”

“He will stand for the independence of the FBI from the President,” Duke said. “He is up for the job. It was a good selection.”

Trump had considered many candidates for the position, including former Sen. Joe Lieberman ’64 LAW ’67, another Yale graduate and former chairman of the News.

“I am proud to announce Christopher as my choice as the director of the F.B.I.,” Trump said in an official statement issued by the White House. “He is an impeccably qualified individual, and I know that he will again serve his country as a fierce guardian of the law and model of integrity once the Senate confirms him to lead the F.B.I.”