Trump says ‘fast decision’ possible on new FBI director

U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday “we can make a fast decision” on a new FBI director, possibly by late next week.

“Even that is possible,” Trump told reporters when asked whether he could announce his nominee by Friday, when he is scheduled to leave for his first foreign trip, to the Mideast and Europe.

Eight candidates were in line Saturday for the first interviews with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein. They are among more than a dozen candidates Trump is considering.

“I think the process is going to go quickly. Almost all of them are very well-known,” Trump said. “They’ve been vetted over their lifetime, essentially, but very well-known, highly respected, really talented people.”

The Trump administration is looking to fill the job, which requires Senate confirmation, after Trump abruptly fired Director James Comey on Tuesday.

The first candidate to arrive was Alice Fisher, a high-ranking Justice Department official in the George W. Bush administration. If chosen, she’d be the first woman to lead the FBI. Also among those interviewed was Adam Lee, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Richmond, Va. office and acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe.

Also meeting on Saturday were Michael J. Garcia, a former prosecutor and associate judge on New York’s highest court; Republican Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate leader and a former Texas attorney general; and U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson, a George W. Bush appointee who struck down the centrepiece of the Obama administration’s health care law in 2010.

Frances Townsend, former Homeland Security and counterterrorism adviser to President George W. Bush, and former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers also met with Justice officials.