Trump Considering Ex-Congressman Rogers for FBI Chief

President Donald Trump is considering Mike Rogers, a former Republican congressman and FBI agent from Michigan, among candidates to replace James Comey as FBI director, a White House official said.

Rogers, 53, a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, retired from Congress in 2015 after seven terms to pursue a career in talk radio. He advised the Trump presidential transition team on national security issues but was asked to leave at about the same time New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was removed as head of the transition.

Trump fired Comey on Tuesday after what White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders described as months of rising frustration with the FBI director, dating back to Trump's election.

Comey was leading the FBI investigation of potential collusion between Trump campaign officials and Russian government officials who sought to manipulate the outcome of the presidential election. Comey also publicly dismissed Trump's claim that former President Barack Obama spied on him.

The firing has plunged the Trump White House into another political crisis, as Democrats have roundly castigated the decision and some Republicans have expressed unease.

Rogers didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

FBI Shock

Two days after Comey’s firing, there is still shock within the FBI, said a former senior agent with contacts within the bureau. Rank-and-file agents regard Trump’s decision on Comey’s replacement as a tipping point: will the FBI remain independent or become politicized under the new president, the former agent said.

Rogers is respected in foreign policy and intelligence communities and he would likely be well received by Republican leaders in Congress, but Democrats would likely regard him as too political a choice. FBI agents would also prefer a non-political leader, the former agent said.

Rogers is not the only candidate Trump is considering, but the official did not share other names. People floated as possible picks include Dana Boente, a U.S. attorney who briefly filled in as Attorney General after Trump fired Sally Yates in January; John Pistole, a former director of the Transportation Security Administration and a former FBI deputy director; former New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly; and Michael Mason, a senior vice president at Verizon Inc. and a former FBI executive assistant director.

The former agent said Pistole in particular would be popular within the FBI.

Senator Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, suggested on Twitter Thursday morning that Trump appoint U.S. Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland to lead the FBI. Obama nominated Garland for the Supreme Court last year, but Senate Republicans refused to consider him.

Twenty Democratic state attorneys general meanwhile sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Thursday calling on him to appoint a special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the election. Rosenstein, who has been in office for about two weeks, wrote a letter recommending Comey’s dismissal -- at Trump’s request -- that the White House has used as justification for the firing.

“As prosecutors committed to the rule of law, we urge you to consider the damage to our democratic system of any attempts by the administration to derail and delegitimize the investigation,” the attorneys general wrote. They included New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.