Now that former Sen. Joe Lieberman is out of the running for the top spot at the FBI, two other prospects are being floated to succeed fired FBI Director James Comey: former Rep. Mike Rogers and former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating.
Rogers and Keating are both former FBI agents. With his backing from the former and active agents’ associations, Rogers, 54, is said to have the edge over Keating, who is 73. Two days ago, former Bush White House terrorism adviser Fran Townsend said she had been approached about the FBI directorship as well.
Sources on Capitol Hill agreed that the White House quickly “got the message” that Senate Democrats were adamantly opposed to Lieberman.
Lieberman withdrew himself from consideration Thursday, citing the potential of a conflict of interest, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Three years after he was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, Lieberman became estranged from many in his party when he supported the U.S. strike in Iraq in 2003. He backed Republican John McCain for President in 2008, and earlier this year, issued a strong statement in support of onetime Republican colleague Jeff Sessions for U.S. Attorney General. (Sessions was confirmed without the vote of a single Democratic senator.)
Several conservative Republicans in the Senate were also expected to oppose a Lieberman nomination because of his generally liberal voting record on domestic issues.
Lieberman’s exit from the FBI sweepstakes comes a week after Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and former top FBI official Richard McFeely took themselves out of consideration for the job.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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