Trump interviewing candidates for FBI chief, Vance says in social media post, since deleted

WASHINGTON —  President-elect Donald Trump is interviewing candidates for the role of FBI director, Vice President-elect JD Vance said Tuesday in the clearest indication yet that the new administration is looking to replace current director, Christopher Wray.

In a social media post that was later deleted, Vance defended himself from criticism over his absence from a Senate vote at which a judicial nominee of President Biden was confirmed, saying that at the time of the vote, “I was meeting with President Trump to interview multiple positions for our government, including for FBI Director.”

“I tend to think it’s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than it is for Republicans to lose a vote 49-46 rather than 49-45,” he added on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “But that’s just me.”

Vance was referring to the Senate vote Monday to confirm Embry J. Kidd, a Biden nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, a vote that he and several other Republican senators missed.

An FBI spokesperson declined to comment.

“President-elect Trump is making decisions on who will serve in his second Administration,” said Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump-Vance transition team. “Those decisions will continue to be announced by him when they are made.”

The FBI director’s position carries a 10-year term, but Wray’s replacement would not be unexpected given Trump’s long-running criticism of the director he appointed when he was president seven years ago. This summer, for instance, Trump took to social media to call for Wray to resign after the director appeared to vouch for Biden’s mental acuity.

Some allies of Trump, including conservative strategist Stephen K. Bannon, have been pushing Trump loyalist Kash Patel for the position, but other potential contenders for the job are thought to include Republican Mike Rogers, a former FBI agent and House intelligence committee chairman who recently lost his bid for the U.S. Senate in Michigan.

Tucker writes for the Associated Press. Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report.