4 candidates to be FBI director are in line for interviews

WASHINGTON (AP) — Four candidates to be FBI director were in line Saturday for the first interviews with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, at Justice Department headquarters.

The Trump administration is looking to fill the job after President Donald Trump abruptly fired Director James Comey this past week.

The first candidate to arrive was Alice Fisher, a high-ranking Justice Department official in the George W. Bush administration. She said nothing to reporters as she headed inside.

Among those also expected to be coming were acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, Michael J. Garcia, an associate judge on New York's highest court, and GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate leader and a former state attorney general. That's according to two people familiar with the search process who weren't authorized to publicly discuss the deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

They are among nearly a dozen candidates Trump is considering, a group that includes several lawmakers, attorneys and law enforcement officials.

Fisher formerly served as assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Criminal Division. She faced resistance from Democrats during her confirmation over her alleged participation in discussions about detention policies at the Guantanamo Bay facility in Cuba. She also was deputy special counsel to the Senate special committee that investigated President Bill Clinton's Whitewater scandal.

The FBI has never had a female director.

By SADIE GURMAN,  Associated Press.

Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The Gayly - 5/13/2017 @ 8:29 a.m. CST.