Robert Ray (prosecutor)

This article is about the prosecutor. For other people named Robert Ray, see Robert Ray.

Robert Ray
Independent Counsel for the Whitewater Scandal
In office
October 18, 1999 – March 13, 2002
Preceded byKen Starr
Succeeded byJulie Thomas
Personal details
Born
Robert William Ray

(1960-04-04) April 4, 1960 (age 64)
Frankfurt, West Germany (now Germany)
Political partyRepublican
SpouseJade Cantor
EducationPrinceton University (BA)
Washington and Lee University (JD)

Robert William Ray (born April 4, 1960) is an American lawyer. As the successor to Ken Starr as the head of the Office of the Independent Counsel (1999 to 2002) he investigated and issued the final reports on the Whitewater controversy, the White House travel office controversy, and the White House FBI files controversy. Before that he was Deputy Independent Counsel investigating former Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy and before that Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.[1]

Education

Ray received his A.B. from Princeton University in 1982, and his Juris Doctor cum laude from the Washington and Lee University School of Law in 1985.[2]

Career

After graduating from law school, Ray was a clerk for Frank Altimari, a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Under independent counsel Donald Smaltz, he prosecuted Mike Espy, and then worked under Ken Starr.

He was an unsuccessful candidate for a non-partisan school board in Brooklyn, New York 1993 and 1996, on the "children's slate." He was briefly a candidate in the 2002 United States Senate elections in New Jersey.[1][3][4]

In 2020, he served on President Donald Trump's legal defense team before his impeachment trial.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b "Robert William Ray." Marquis Who's Who TM. Marquis Who's Who, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K2015365641. Fee. Accessed November 1, 2008.
  2. ^ "A Guide to the Robert W. Ray Papers, 1994-2001 Ray, Robert W., Papers, 1994-2001 010". ead.lib.virginia.edu. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
  3. ^ Weiser, Benjamin; Neil A. Lewis (December 19, 1999). "An Aggressive Prosecutor Now Enters the Limelight as Starr's Successor". New York Times. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
  4. ^ "Pryor Cashman LLP: Robert W. Ray". Archived from the original on September 5, 2008. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
  5. ^ Sullivan, Eileen (January 17, 2020). "Robert Ray Wanted to Indict Clinton. He Thinks Trump Will Be Vindicated". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 18, 2020.