Cornyn declines to seek FBI post
WASHINGTON — Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn bowed out of contention Tuesday as a possible replacement for fired FBI Director James Comey, ending speculation about what might otherwise have been a wideopen scramble for his long-held Senate seat.
Cornyn’s decision came three days after he interviewed for the FBI job with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and a week after President Donald Trump summarily fired Comey, the face of the agency’s controversial inquiries into Hillary Clinton’s emails and possible links between Trump campaign associates and the Russian government.
“Now more than ever the country needs a well-credentialed, independent FBI director,” Cornyn said in a statement. “I’ve informed the administration that I’m committed to helping them find such an individual and that the best way I can serve is continuing to fight for a conservative agenda in the U.S. Senate.”
Cornyn’s move came amid bipartisan calls for an FBI director from outside the political arena, with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell floating the name of federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obama’s failed pick for the Supreme Court.
Cornyn’s decision also averted a fresh leadership struggle in the Senate, as well as a reshuffling of the Republican political deck in Texas.
Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, was arguably the most prominent prospect for the job to lead and stabilize and the FBI, which has been shaken by Trump’s dismissal of Comey amid an inquiry of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Cornyn, 65, was one of 14 people who had emerged as candidates, eight of whom met over the weekend with Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Had Cornyn been tapped for the position, he would have left a U.S. Senate seat he has occupied since 2002.
“Working for 28 million Texans in the U.S. Senate is an honor I never expected to have, and one I cherish each and every day,” Cornyn said. “I’m eager to continue working with the administration and the rest of my colleagues to make Texas and our country stronger.”
It was never clear how much Cornyn wanted the FBI job or whether he was considering it out of a sense of obligation to the administration. In a statement Friday after his name was first floated in public, he downplayed interest in the job, saying his “focus” remained representing Texas.
Those who know him say he is happy in the Senate, where he has cultivated comfortable relationships, mastered the chamber’s traditions and enjoyed respect on both sides of the aisle. By comparison, the FBI post is expected to remain at the center of lingering tensions between Senate Democrats and an embattled Trump administration, whose inner workings have often appeared chaotic.