WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says the president will not announce his pick for FBI director before leaving Friday on his first foreign trip.
President Donald Trump has been narrowing a short list and interviewing candidates to replace FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump fired on May 9.
Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Friday that no announcement is imminent.
Trump had said Thursday he was “very close” to naming a replacement and that former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman was among his top choices.
The president departs Friday afternoon on a four-country, nine-day tour of the Middle East and Europe.
He’d previously said he might announce his nominee before he left.
President Donald Trump’s maiden international trip, a five-stop marathon across the Middle East and Europe, has long loomed as crucial first test abroad for the chaos-courting president.
As he tries to calm allies worried about his “America First” message, he’ll be followed by fallout from his firing of FBI Director James Comey and the appointment of a special counsel to probe Trump’s ties to Russia.
Trump’s itinerary begins Saturday in Saudi Arabia.
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