Politics: A former top Democrat has emerged as the front-runner to be FBI director

Joe Lieberman, the former Democratic vice-presidential nominee, is the favorite to be nominated as FBI director, White House officials said on Thursday.

Joe Lieberman, the former Connecticut senator and Democratic vice-presidential nominee, has emerged as the favorite to be nominated as the next FBI director.

A nomination is expected either Thursday or Friday. President Donald Trump confirmed to a reporter on Thursday that Lieberman was a finalist.

Lieberman's front-running status, first reported by Politico, followed the former senator's Wednesday meeting with Trump. A person familiar with the meeting told Politico that Trump "bonded with Lieberman."

The position opened up after Trump's shocking firing last week of FBI Director James Comey, who was overseeing an investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election. On Wednesday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed a special counsel, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, to oversee that investigation.

If Lieberman were nominated to be FBI director, it would represent a stark change for the bureau. None of the seven past FBI directors was a former politician.

Lieberman served in the Senate from 1989 through 2013. In 2000, he was Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore's running mate. But in 2006, he left the Democratic Party and became an independent. Politico reported that Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and others were critical of a potential Lieberman nomination, according to someone familiar with the discussion.

Since leaving the Senate, Lieberman joined the law firm Kasowitz, Benson, Torres, and Friedman, where he serves as senior counsel. The firm has represented Trump for years, which could present a sticking point for both Democrats and Republicans during a potential confirmation. But the appointment of Mueller, combined with Lieberman's longstanding friendships with members of both parties, could quash some of those foreseeable complaints.

One Democratic senator, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, brushed back on the idea of Lieberman as FBI director on Thursday, saying the person nominated should be someone who's "never" run for office.

Lieberman, one of four people to meet with Trump to discuss the open FBI position on Wednesday, introduced Trump's pick to lead the Department of Education, Betsy DeVos, during her Senate confirmation hearing in January. Lieberman serves on the board of a DeVos-founded education organization.

The former Connecticut senator would be the oldest FBI director at the start of his tenure at the age of 75. FBI directors are appointed for 10-year terms by the president.

Lieberman has weighed in on some points of Trump's agenda since his election. In January, he said he wasn't surprised that Trump delivered on his campaign promise to restrict the travel of people from some terrorism hotspots to the US.

"Like everything else, this was to be expected, President Trump is keeping his promise," Lieberman, the former chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, told Business Insider in an interview. "The question is how the administrative agencies, in this case immigration, carry out his order."

Lieberman also addressed Trump's proposal for a wall along the US-Mexico border, saying he didn't believe Trump could get Mexico to pay for it "voluntarily under any means that I can see."

Joe Lieberman, the former Democratic vice-presidential nominee, is the favorite to be nominated as FBI director, White House officials said on Thursday. Read Full Story