"Even that is possible," he told reporters when asked whether he could announce his nominee by Friday, when he is scheduled to leave for the Mideast and Europe. The president spoke while flying to Lynchburg, Virginia, where he was giving the commencement address at Liberty University.
Four candidates to be the bureau's director were in line today for the first interviews with Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, at Justice Department headquarters.
The first candidate to arrive was Alice Fisher, a high- ranking Justice Department official in the George W. Bush administration. She left after about an hour and a half inside the building and declined to comment to reporters.
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.
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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.