Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Among President Obama’s top choices for replacing FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III is a woman, Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post reports.
Citing current and former administration officials, the Post wrote that Lisa Monaco, a former senior Justice Department official who became Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, is among the top contenders.
Mueller, 68, plans to step down Sept. 4 following 12 years on the job.
Obama plans to find a successor soon to make time for the confirmation process before Congress.
“Mueller will leave very big shoes to fill,” said one Justice Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. “Two years ago, he was portrayed as the indispensable man. Now, the FBI is going to have to do without the indispensable man in a matter of a few months.”
Horwitz writes:
Among the names that have surfaced as contenders are Monaco, who oversaw the National Security Division at Justice before moving to the White House; Merrick B. Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; James B. Comey, deputy attorney general in the George W. Bush administration; Neil MacBride, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and Patrick J. Fitzgerald, former U.S. attorney in Chicago.
