FBI pick delayed amid new bombshell on Comey firing

By Reuters/Tom Rowe   May 19, 2017 | 07:12 pm PT
President Donald Trump has not named Comey's replacement.

U.S. President Donald Trump has delayed naming a replacement for fired FBI director James Comey, despite expectations he would pick former Senator Joe Lieberman before leaving on a week-long overseas trip.  

Ten days after firing James Comey as FBI director, President Donald Trump left for an overseas trip without naming his replacement.

And as the New York Times reported, Trump told visiting Russian officials that firing Comeyhad relieved great pressure on him, calling the former FBI chief a nut job.

For Trump, they're the latest in a week of setbacks that also saw the appointing of special counsel Robert Mueller to probe his campaign's ties to Russia, and bombshell allegations Trump pressured Comey to stop the probe and may have shared U.S. Secrets with Russia in the Oval Office.

The FBI post remains unfilled despite Trump's own prediction of a quick nomination.

A storm of reports has named former senator Joe Lieberman as the frontrunner for the job.

The short listing of Lieberman - a former Democrat with strong washington ties - was met with little enthusiasm from the party's lawmakers on Capitol Hill who said they objected to his lack of law enforcement credentials and that he works for a law firm representing… Donald Trump.

Several other candidates had already dropped from the running, including Texas Senator John Cornyn and South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy.

The search for an acceptable candidate now continues as Trump sets out on a week-long trip to Saudi Arabia, Israel and Italy.

 
 
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