The White House says President Donald Trump will be interviewing four potential candidates to lead the FBI, including former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer says Trump will be meeting later Wednesday with Lieberman, former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, FBI acting director Andrew McCabe and Richard McFeely, a former top FBI official.

The meetings come more than a week after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. The president has suggested he hopes to name Comey’s successor before he departs Friday for his first overseas trip as president.

Spicer spoke aboard Air Force One following Trump’s remarks at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut.

Lieberman served in the Senate for more than two decades and was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000 with Vice President Al Gore. Lieberman lost his 2006 Democratic primary bid but won Senate re-election as a third party candidate.

Lieberman spoke at the 2008 Republican National Convention on behalf of his friend, Arizona Sen. John McCain, and did not seek re-election in 2012. He has served as co-chairman of No Labels, a centrist group that promotes bipartisanship.

Keating, a Republican, was a two-term governor in Oklahoma and led the state during the deadly 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City. A former FBI agent, Keating served in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

McCabe became acting director following the May 9 firing of Comey. The veteran FBI official made headlines for his congressional testimony last week that rejected the White House’s claim that Comey had lost the support of rank-and-file agents and for disputing the administration’s characterization of an investigation into potential coordination between Russia and the Trump White House.

Several other candidates have withdrawn from consideration, including Rep. Trey Gowdy and Sen. John Cornyn, both Republicans; Alice Fisher, the former head of the Justice Department’s criminal division; and Michael Garcia, a former U.S. attorney from Manhattan.

(AP)