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Speaker 1: You're listening to Bloomberg Law. Bloomberg Laws brought to you

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Speaker 1: About them, visit Commonwealth dot com. June. Thank you, Greg.

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Speaker 1: A little more than a week after his controversial firing

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Speaker 1: of FBI Director James Comey, President Donald Trump says he's

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Speaker 1: very close to naming a new FBI director. He's already

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Speaker 1: interviewed for potential candidates. Former Independent Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman,

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Speaker 1: former Republican Governor of Oklahoma Frank Keating, the current acting

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Speaker 1: FBI Director Andrew McCabe, and retired top FBI official Richard mcpheeley.

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Speaker 1: Joining us is Alex Wayne. Bloomberg News White House team

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Speaker 1: leader Alex Trump has said Lieberman is among his top candidates,

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Speaker 1: but Democrats are already expressing opposition to that choice. Tell

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Speaker 1: us about Lieberman and why he seems to be the

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Speaker 1: leading contender. He's a favorite Democrat among Republicans. For starters,

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Speaker 1: You'll remember that he endorsed John McCain in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and eight. Uh so he he right, he. I think

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Speaker 1: he's regarded as by the White House as somebody who

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Speaker 1: maybe could have gotten Democratic quotes in the Senate. But

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Speaker 1: I think that also Democrats made that clear yesterday that

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Speaker 1: wouldn't happen. Uh. Democrats and some Republicans say a politician

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Speaker 1: should not be in this job. It should be somebody

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Speaker 1: with law enforcement experience, as has been the case with

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Speaker 1: I believe every previous FBI director Alex. Does that apply

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Speaker 1: to anybody who's been a politician. So there's a former

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Speaker 1: governor Keating, there's former Congressman Congressman Rodgers. Um, we're on

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Speaker 1: the list. Are they also potentially disqualified because they've they've

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Speaker 1: been elected to political office? I think any former politician

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Speaker 1: is going to have some trouble uh getting this job.

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Speaker 1: But that said, they only need fifty one votes in

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Speaker 1: the Senate, so some of these guys could could get through,

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Speaker 1: which just Republican support, including including Keating I think, and

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Speaker 1: probably Mike Rogers. Alex, does anyone on the list have

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Speaker 1: the background that former FBI directors like Comy and Mueller had. Sure.

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Speaker 1: Andrew McCabe has been at the FBI for a long time.

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Speaker 1: He may have disqualified himself in the eyes of the

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Speaker 1: President with his testimony the other day UH, in which

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Speaker 1: he said that that James Comey had the support of

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Speaker 1: the FBI, UH, contradicting several people at the White House.

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Speaker 1: He said that he didn't. UM. But there are there

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Speaker 1: are several others on this list that have considerable law

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Speaker 1: enforcement experience, a couple of a couple of judges, UH,

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Speaker 1: Richard mcpheley, he has already been interviewed by the President.

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Speaker 1: I think any of those types of people probably wouldn't

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Speaker 1: have too much trouble being confirmed, assuming they don't have

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Speaker 1: any unknown skeletons in their closets. Alex. One of the

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Speaker 1: issues between Donald Trump and Jim Comey was the whole

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Speaker 1: question of whether Comy would pledge his loyalty to Donald Trump.

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Speaker 1: Do you envisioned that's gonna that that sort of issue

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Speaker 1: is gonna come up in this process, both the selection

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Speaker 1: and then the confirmation process. So I think that's a complication.

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Speaker 1: If Trump wants to hire a non political person, career

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Speaker 1: law enforcement person who has has has developed his own

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Speaker 1: kind of respect and experience, anybody like that, I think

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Speaker 1: has to take into consideration whether they're gonna whether the

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Speaker 1: President is going to extract a loyalty pledge from them,

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Speaker 1: and Alex, as you mentioned, only a majority vote in

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Speaker 1: the Senate is needed. But does this look like it's

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Speaker 1: going to fall down partisan lines? Or are there some

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Speaker 1: Republican senators who are going to be a little more

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Speaker 1: picky about it? I think it's likely to be partisan.

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Speaker 1: There was some reporting that John Cornyn was Trump's top

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Speaker 1: pick for this job, the current UH Senate majority whip,

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Speaker 1: the second the second ranking Republican in the Senate, that

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Speaker 1: that would have been a really problematic pick for Democrats

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Speaker 1: to support. And I think Trump is still leaning in

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Speaker 1: that direction. I think he I think honestly, I think

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Speaker 1: he probably wants a politician in the job because that

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Speaker 1: sort of a person is more likely to be to

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Speaker 1: be willing to to pledge fealty to the president. Alex.

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Speaker 1: There had been some talk that the President might make

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Speaker 1: the announcement before he left on his foreign trip. Today

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg is now reporting that, according to a White House official,

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Speaker 1: that's not going to happen. Is it all at all

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Speaker 1: a surprise that the President hasn't made his UH made

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Speaker 1: that deadline? A little bit yesterday, Joe Lieberman was the

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Speaker 1: popular pick. I think though, that the Lieberman pick went over,

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Speaker 1: or the Lieberman idea went over like a lead balloon,

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Speaker 1: and so Trump sort of went back to the drawing

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Speaker 1: board to reconsider his his names. We've also heard that

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Speaker 1: his advisers urged him to take some time with this

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Speaker 1: and do it right, don't just don't just leap to

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Speaker 1: a sexy pick like Lieberman. Um, is there any indication

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Speaker 1: in your mind as to who would be number two?

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Speaker 1: I don't have a good feel for that, unfortunately. I

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Speaker 1: think I think Keating. I think that probably the people

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Speaker 1: that that Trump has personally interviewed, or the front runners Keating, McCabe, mcpheely,

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Speaker 1: and and Lieberman. Um, I think Lieberman is is. Since

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Speaker 1: Lieberman wasn't selected yesterday, I think he might be out

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Speaker 1: of the running. And so I would, if I had

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Speaker 1: to bet on anybody would probably Keating and Um. With

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Speaker 1: Sessions in on those meetings, we believe so we think

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Speaker 1: Sessions is playing a pretty central role in making this higher.

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Speaker 1: And and you still you you believe that it won't

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Speaker 1: be a problem for Republicans to have a politician like

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Speaker 1: a former Republican governor. Yeah, now I think I think

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Speaker 1: a guy like Keating would get through the Senate with

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Speaker 1: fifty one votes, maybe a few more from a couple

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Speaker 1: of Democrats. Uh, A non politician would would attract more

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Speaker 1: Democratic support, but I'm not sure Trump cares about that.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for being on Bloomberg Law alex Wayne

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Speaker 1: Bloomberg News White House team Leader coming up. Republican regulators

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Speaker 1: have begun dismantling OH Bomba era net neutrality rules, raising

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Speaker 1: web companies fears they'll face barriers to reaching customers.