President Donald Trump will meet today in the White House with two candidates to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), presidential spokesman Sean Spicer announced today.
Trump will meet with Chris Wray, deputy assistant attorney general of the United States between 2003 and 2005, and John Pistole, former director of the Transportation Security Bureau (TSA), according to Spicer.
“The president will meet with two additional candidates this afternoon, Chris Wray and John Pistole,” the spokesman said at his daily press conference.
When asked about when Trump will appoint someone to replace James Comey, dismissed as FBI director three weeks ago, Spicer responded: “When the president feels that he has met with the right candidate, he will let us know, but he will meet with The candidates today and will continue to do so until you find the appropriate leader. ”
Currently, Chris Wray is a partner at the King & Spalding law firm, where he chairs his government research group.
For his part, Pistole, who stopped working for the government in 2014, was the deputy director of the FBI between 2004 and 2010, when the director of the agency was Robert Mueller, whom the Department of Justice named May 17 as special prosecutor For Russian research.
Mueller is leading the investigation to determine whether Russian intelligence influenced the outcome of the 2016 presidential election and whether there was coordination with the Trump campaign.
Mueller was succeeded as FBI Director James Comey, who was dismissed by surprise by President Trump on May 9, a decision that sparked a political storm in Washington.
Finding a new FBI director has become a crucial issue for the White House, which has not clearly explained why, how and when Trump took the decision to fire Comey, who was leading the investigation into the Ties between the Kremlin and the incumbent.
The favorite so far was the ex senator Joe Lieberman, who on May 25 communicated to the White House that he is not interested in the position.
In addition to Lieberman, Trump held interviews with three other candidates: acting director of the agency, Andrew McCabe; FBI ex-agent Richard McFeely and Republican Frank Keating, Oklahoma’s ex-governor.
