Gowdy: I’m ‘not the right person’ to replace Comey

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said Monday that he is “not the right person” to replace fired FBI Director James Comey, despite Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the head of the Justice Department, speaking with him about running the agency.

“I greatly appreciate the Attorney General speaking with me and respecting my decision and I wish him wisdom as he interviews potential candidates,” Gowdy, a former prosecutor and chairman of the temporary House Select Committee on Benghazi, said, according to NBC News.

“I shared with him two things: (1) the qualities I believe are indispensable for our next FBI Director to possess, and (2) my firm conviction that I would not be the right person,” Gowdy added of talks with Sessions last Saturday and earlier Monday. 

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Reports emerged Friday that Gowdy was one of nearly a dozen candidates on President Trump’s shortlist to replace Comey, whose abrupt firing stunned the political world last week.

Trump said Saturday that naming Comey’s successor is “possible” before he leaves for an overseas trip this Friday.

“We can make a fast decision,” he said aboard Air Force One. “I think the process is going to go quickly. Almost all of them are very well known.”

Candidates for FBI director began arriving at the Justice Department on Saturday for interviews with Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein. The position requires Senate confirmation, and more candidates are expected to meet with Sessions and Rosenstein in the coming days.