MOSCOW (Sputnik) — US President Donald Trump is likely to appoint Joe Lieberman, a former Democratic vice-presidential nominee and a former senator, as the new director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), media reported Thursday citing a number of White House officials and advisers.
According to Politico, Trump wants to make an announcement before he leaves for his first foreign trip on Friday.
On Wednesday, Trump met four candidates to replace former FBI Director James Comey, namely Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, former FBI Executive Assistant Director Richard McFeely and Lieberman.
On May 9, Trump fired Comey on the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
The Trump administration asserted that the US president and "the rest of the FBI" had lost confidence in Comey over the last few months and in the past year with his poor handling of the investigation into the Hillary Clinton private server and email scandal. Comey was also reportedly seeking funding to extend the bureau’s inquiry into alleged links between Russia and Trump and Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The US media have been questioning alleged ties of the Trump campaign to Russia and exploring the claims that Russia may have influenced the 2016 presidential election. Russian officials have repeatedly denied charges of interfering in the US elections, saying the allegations are absurd and represent an attempt to divert the US public’s attention from revealed instances corruption as well as other pressing domestic issues.
