bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

The Washington Post

Texas Senator John Cornyn, the second-ranking Senate Republican who has in recent weeks become a more outward defender of US President Donald Trump, and acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, who on Thursday contradicted the Trump White House on a range of topics, will interview on Saturday to serve as the FBI’s permanent director, according to people familiar with the matter.
The men are two of at least four people who will interview to replace James Comey, whom Trump suddenly fired earlier this week, the people said.
The others are Alice Fisher, a white-collar defence lawyer who previously led the Justice Department’s criminal division, and Michael Garcia, a judge on the New York State Court of Appeals who previously served as the US attorney for the Southern District of New York.

All four will be interviewed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the two top officials in the Justice Department.
Trump warns Comey against ‘leaking to the press’
The list is not a comprehensive accounting of finalists for the FBI director positions. It is possible other candidates could be considered, officials said, and the ultimate decision falls to Trump. Justice Department officials also have interviewed four other candidates to serve as interim FBI director, though it is possible McCabe could stay on in that role if he were not selected for the permanent job.
The job also requires Senate confirmation. Whoever is selected is appointed to a 10-year term, though they can be removed by the president.

Cornyn, 65, is a former Texas attorney general and state supreme court justice and is serving his third term in the Senate. He serves as Senate majority whip, making him the second-ranking Republican in the chamber. But GOP senators set term limits for leadership posts and his ends at the start of 2019.
Fired FBI chief Comey had ‘broad support’ of agents
Cornyn is not expected to challenge Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is not term-limited and is widely respected among Republican senators. That means Cornyn is on the verge of hitting a professional ceiling, so the 10-year term of FBI director might be a logical next move.
If Cornyn were selected, there likely would be Democratic concern about handing over the nation’s premier law enforcement agency to a Republican who - despite being considered an affable senator - has served as a prominent partisan attack dog.

Cornyn has in recent weeks become more of an outward defender of Trump. Earlier this week, he dismissed the idea that Trump fired Comey to impede the FBI’s Russia probe, terming it a “phoney narrative.”
“If you assume that, this strikes me as a lousy way to do it,” he said. “All it does is heighten the attention given to the issue.”
FBI chief asked to expand Russia probe - then Trump fired him
McCabe, who had been the FBI deputy director before Comey was fired, might be a more palatable choice for Democrats. At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Thursday, he heaped praise on his former boss and did not hesitate to rebut narratives advanced by the White House, including its attempt to minimise the Russia probe. He is a long-time FBI agent who led the Washington Field Office before he was elevated to the bureau’s No. 2 post in 2016.

Through an FBI spokesman, he declined to comment.
Fisher and Garcia are both alumni of the George W. Bush administration. Garcia served as assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and as the U.S. attorney for the Souther District of New York, where he led the investigation into a prostitution ring that ultimately forced New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to resign.
Washington turns to history after Trump’s ‘Nixonian’ move
Fisher served as an assistant attorney general, and, if selected, would be the first woman to run the FBI.
Efforts to reach both of them were not successful Friday night.


Why Beijing is now the only true partner of Africa and Latin America

Why war on Iran threatens to unleash unrest in South Asia

India turns to ‘trusted friend’ Russia for oil, LNG supply as Iran war energises ties

Iran attacks Kuwait, Israel after Trump set deadline for deal

Donald Trump

Acting FBI director McCabe and Senator Cornyn among four in running for bureau chief job

US Senate Judiciary Committee member Senator John Cornyn. Photo: AP

(FILES) This file photo taken on March 20, 2017 shows FBI Director James Comey during the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on Russian actions during the 2016 election campaign on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump warned sacked FBI chief James Comey on May 12, 2017 not to "leak" details of their conversations to the media, and suggested they may have been recorded. "James Comey better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!" Trump wrote in one of a series of early morning tweets assailing critics and the media over their response to Comey's ouster. / AFP PHOTO / Nicholas Kamm

FILE - In this Jan. 3, 2006, file photo, then-Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Alice Fisher briefs reporters at the Justice Department in Washington. President Donald Trump is considering nearly a dozen candidates to succeed ousted FBI Director James Comey, choosing from a group that includes several lawmakers, attorneys and law enforcement officials. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

FILE - In this June 1, 2016, file photo, New York Court of Appeals Associate Judge Michael J, Garcia, listen to oral arguments on whether criminal defendants should be allowed to use allegations made in civil rights lawsuits against police witnesses to question their credibility during cross-examination at the Court of Appeals in Albany, N.Y. President Donald Trump is considering nearly a dozen candidates to succeed ousted FBI Director James Comey, choosing from a group that includes several lawmakers, attorneys and law enforcement officials. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File)

(FILES) This file photo taken on May 11, 2017 shows newly installed acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. McCabe is in consideration to replace former FBI Director James Comey after US President Donald Trump's shock dismissal of Comey -- the man overseeing federal investigations into suspected Kremlin interference in the 2016 vote -- has sparked a political firestorm in Washington and plunged his young presidency in turmoil. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON

News

World

United States & Canada