Chris Wray has been formally installed as the new FBI director in a ceremony notable for the absence of the man who appointed him: US President Donald Trump.
The ceremony in a courtyard at FBI headquarters on Thursday was largely a formality since Wray has been on the job for about two months. But in a reflection of the unusual circumstances of the event, it took place without Trump. And Wray's two direct predecessors as FBI director, James Comey and Robert Mueller, were also absent, avoiding potentially uncomfortable encounters amid an investigation that touches the White House.
Trump fired Comey in May, and Mueller was appointed as special counsel the following week to oversee an FBI investigation into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Part of that probe includes an investigation into Comey's firing.
Trump's absence was all the more striking given that former President Barack Obama attended the most recent FBI director installation ceremony, for Comey in 2013, and spoke warmly about him.
Neither the Russia investigation nor a separate FBI probe of Hillary Clinton's email use was directly referenced during the 45-minute ceremony. Yet the politics of the event were unmistakable, at both the podium and in the audience, which included Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who wrote the memo that the White House initially held up as justification for Comey's firing.
