President Donald Trump could announce the new FBI director Friday, May 19, which is his own self-imposed soft deadline.
President Donald Trump could announce the new FBI director Friday, May 19, which is his own self-imposed soft deadline.
The Associated Press reports Trump said he is “very close to an FBI director” during an appearance with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Thursday, in the Oval Office. Trump, sent to embark on his first overseas visit as president Friday, confirmed that former Sen. Joe Lieberman was a top candidate and that the two had a “good meeting.”
Lieberman seemed to agree with the sentiment, as he was photographed leaving the White House with a big thumbs up.
The president is said to have also met with three other top candidates in former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, current acting FBI director Andrew McCabe and former FBI official Richard McFeely.
Once Trump makes his selection, the appointment of an FBI director then goes to the senate. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, told A. P. that he thinks Lieberman might be the only selection “that could get 100 votes that I know of.”
Lieberman was a senator for more than 20 years, was Al Gore’s vice presidential nominee in 2000, and won Senate re-election in 2006 as a third-party candidate.
Keating was a two-term Republican governor of Oklahoma with his tenure covering the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings. Before this, he served as an FBI agent during former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush’s administrations.
McCabe is the current acting FBI director and came to the defense of ousted FBI director James Comey by disagreeing with the White House’s claim the latter had lost the support of the bureau.
Trump fired Comey May 9, in a move he called necessary to restore the trust and confidence in the law enforcement agency. Comey was leading the investigation into whether Trump’s campaign and his associates worked with Russia to swing the 2016 election.
The former FBI director appointed by President Barack Obama has said during hearings that there is no evidence Russian hackers changed any vote tallies in the election while maintaining they are highly confident the country interfered with the goal of getting Trump elected.
