Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Quick pick possible for FBI role
Trump says decision on new bureau director may arrive this week.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Saturday that “we can make a fast decision” on a new FBI director, possibly before he leaves on his first foreign trip since taking office.
“Even that is possible,” Trump told reporters when asked whether he could announce his nominee by Friday, when he is scheduled to leave for the Mideast and Europe.
At least six candidates to be the bureau’s director were in line Saturday for interviews with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, at Justice Department headquarters. They are among more than a dozen candidates Trump is considering, a group that includes several lawmakers, attorneys and law enforcement officials.
“I think the process is going to go quickly. Almost all of them are very wellknown,” Trump said aboard the plane that took him to Lynchburg, Va., where he gave the commencement address at Liberty University. “They’ve been vetted over their lifetime essentially, but very well-known, highly respected, really talented people. And that’s what we want for the FBI.”
The Trump administration is looking to fill the job, which requires Senate confirmation, after Trump fired James Comey on Tuesday.
The first candidate to arrive was Alice Fisher, a Justice Department official in the George W. Bush administration. The FBI has never had a female director.
Among those interviewed was Adam Lee, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Richmond, Va., office. Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe also interviewed for the permanent post. GOP Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate leader and a former Texas attorney general, also interviewed.
Also reportedly interviewed Saturday were Michael Garcia, an associate judge on New York’s highest court, and U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson, a George W. Bush appointee who struck down the centerpiece of the Obama administration’s health care law in 2010.
Meanwhile, the FBI Agents Association urged Trump to pick former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, saying his diverse background makes him the best choice for the job. Rogers is the former chairman of the House intelligence committee who also worked as an FBI special agent based in Chicago in the 1990s. His name is on the list of people Trump is considering.