Trump says ‘fast decision’ possible on new FBI director 

Alice Fisher arrives at the U.S. Department of Justice on Saturday. Fisher is one of nearly a dozen candidates President Donald Trump is considering to succeed ousted FBI Director James Comey

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

Eight candidates to be the bureau’s director were in line Saturday for the first 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 well-known,” Trump said aboard the plane that took him to Lynchburg, Virginia, 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 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.

Among those interviewed was Adam Lee, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Richmond, Virginia, office. Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe also interviewed for the permanent post despite his repeated willingness to break from White House explanations of Comey’s ouster and its characterizations of the Russia investigation.

Also interviewed Saturday were Michael J. Garcia, a former prosecutor and associate judge on New York’s highest court; GOP 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 centerpiece 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.

Rogers came endorsed by the FBI Agents Association, which said his diverse background makes him the best choice for the job. He is the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who also worked as an FBI special agent based in Chicago in the 1990s.

Fisher and Townsend were the only women on the list of candidates. The FBI has never had a female director. Each has worked in high-profile positions in the Justice Department.

Fisher formerly served as assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. She faced resistance from Democrats during her confirmation over her alleged participation in discussions about detention policies at the Guantanamo Bay facility in Cuba.

Among other roles, Townsend led the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, which at the time handled requests for government surveillance warrants in terrorism and espionage cases.

Sessions has faced questions over whether his involvement in Comey’s firing violates his pledge to recuse himself from investigations into Russian interference in the election. Some lawmakers have alleged the firing was an effort to stifle that FBI probe.

Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said Sessions and Rosenstein are involved in the interviews because the FBI director reports to them as attorney general and deputy attorney general. They can make recommendations, but the president will ultimately make the hiring decision. AP