President Trump is interviewing four FBI candidates tonight. One of them is the former Democratic nominee for vice president:
NEW: Spicer says Trump will meet with FOUR FBI director candidates: Andrew McCabe, Frank Keating, Richard McFeely & Joe Lieberman.
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) May 17, 2017
Andrew McCabe is acting director of the FBI. Frank Keating was governor of Oklahoma from 1995 to 2003. Richard McFeely is executive assistant director and has quite a lot of cybersecurity experience. And then there’s Joe.
Is Trump serious? Lieberman as FBI director would be the culmination of a long journey, from Al Gore’s running mate to John McCain’s roadie to public option–killer to least-entertaining troll in politics. (The New Republic endorsed Lieberman for president in 2004, which isn’t relevant to this story, but is always worth pointing out.)
It is more than likely that Trump isn’t serious and that this is a troll—not as good a troll as considering Merrick Garland for the post, but a good troll nevertheless. It will give the administration “bipartisan” cover, especially if Trump ends up picking Keating, a Republican politician.
If Trump and Lieberman are serious, it would be a huge problem because Lieberman’s law firm represents Trump—and Trump has paid the firm millions. Yes, that would just be the latest conflict of interest in an administration full of them, but even the Trump administration probably realizes that Lieberman is not worth the price of admission.