Between last week’s flare-up over the firing of FBI Director James Comey, and this week’s report that he divulged too much information about antiterrorist intelligence in a meeting with Russian officials, President Trump doesn’t have much of a margin for error at the moment.
And so it has to come as something of a relief that Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has taken himself out of the running as FBI director, just as South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy did a few days ago.
Not that there’s anything wrong with the two men. They’re fine politicians. But right now, Trump shouldn’t be thinking about picking a politician (or a former politician, like Mike Rogers) as his new FBI director. As Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has argued, it would be unusual in any circumstance, let alone the current one, to pick someone with “a background in elective office.”
l have selfish motivations — the last thing he needs is another Senate seat to defend. But he’s right anyway. And this just isn’t the time for Trump to drum up another unnecessary controversy by picking a politician to run the bureau.
