Joe Lieberman, a former independent senator from Connecticut, is one of four final candidates that US President Donald Trump is considering to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation, White House officials confirmed on Wednesday.
Trump fired the last FBI director, James Comey, last week, amid a bureau investigation into links between the Russian government and his 2016 presidential campaign. Affiliates of Comey now say he believes that Trump was trying to thwart the progress of that inquiry– a charge tantamount to obstruction of justice, an impeachable offense.
Trump interviewed Lieberman personally on Wednesday afternoon. The former Connecticut senator– who identified as a Democrat before losing a primary in 2006 over his support for the Iraq War– said he was “surprised” when he was approached to discuss the job by the Trump administration.
In 2008, Lieberman supported the Republican candidate, John McCain, over the Democrat, Barack Obama, citing McCain’s vast experience in governing. But he supported Trump’s opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, in last year’s presidential race. “It’s very hard to predict what he’s going to do,” he told The Jerusalem Post at the time.
Lieberman is a graduate of Yale Law School, but only briefly practiced after graduating. He served as Connecticut’s attorney general in the 1980s before launching a 24-year career in the Senate.
Acting director Andrew McCabe, FBI veteran Richard McFeely and former Oklahoma governor Frank Keating are also under consideration.