U.S. President Donald Trump is still seeking a replacement for former FBI Director James Comey whom he fired three weeks ago. He will interview John Pistole and Chris Wray, the New York Daily News reported.
Pistole was the number two man in FBI. He was deputy director from 2004 to 2010 and headed the Transportation Security Administration from 2010 to 2014, according to Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Wray was an assistant attorney general during the term of President George W. Bush. Their interviews with the president are scheduled on Tuesday.
First set of candidates back out
The two are the second batch of prospective Fbi Director. Three legislators who were in the first batch of potential replacements to Comey all backed out. Democratic Connecticut former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Trump’s top choice, withdrew because of potential conflict. He worked for a long time with the law firm Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman which had Trump as a client long-term.
The two other potential replacements of Comey, Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn, and Republican South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, also both backed out. Trump had previously met with former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating and the current acting FBI director, Andrew McCabe.
In early May, Trump said he was very close to selecting a nominee to replace Comey whom he fired over the investigation of ex-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.
The former adviser is one of the people from Trump’s campaign being probed for contacting Russian officials during the campaign period. Spicer said when Trump feels he has met the right candidate; he will let the public know, Reuters reported.
Trump is a lawyer’s nightmare
The need to replace Comey has its roots in the FBI investigation of Trump’s Russian links.
However, Huffington Post pointed out that the president is a nightmare client for his legal team because Trump’s macho self-image and narcissism go against his exercising caution and restraint.
One of his lawyers is New York-based Marc Kasowitz who charges $1,500 an hour. Trump and Kasowtiz has a client-lawyer relationship that goes a long way back and wide-ranging.
He has represented the real estate billionaire on his bankruptcy and divorces cases and the fraud lawsuits involving the Trump University.
Kasowitz is familiar not only with Trump but also Russia. One of his clients is Sberbank, one of the biggest state-run banks in Russia which hired the lawyer because of a federal fraud lawsuit the bank is facing in New York.
