David Jackson

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Add Joe Lieberman to the list of potential FBI directors.

The former Connecticut senator and 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee is among four finalists being interviewed by President Trump on Wednesday, a week after his dismissal of previous FBI director James Comey ignited a political firestorm.

The others, according to White House spokesman Sean Spicer: acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former Oklahoma governor and Justice Department spokesman Frank Keating, and former senior FBI official Richard McFeely.

Trump said he hopes to announce a new FBI director by the time he leaves on a foreign trip Friday.

The interviews come a day after news reports about Comey's claim that Trump asked him to drop an FBI investigation into the conduct of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

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Lieberman nearly became the nation's first Jewish vice president, as he and Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore lost the contested 2000 election to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. A former attorney general in Connecticut, Lieberman won election to the U.S. Senate in 1988 and retired after four terms.

He showed a large independent streak during his Senate years and actually won his last term as an independent after losing the Democratic Party nomination over his support for the Iraq war. Lieberman often backed George W. Bush administration policies in the war on terrorism, and 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain considered Lieberman as a running mate.

Late last year, Lieberman public defended David Friedman, Trump's pick for U.S. ambassador to Israel, over comments that Friedman had made about some Jewish-American leaders.

Lieberman is now senior counsel with Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman — a firm that has represented businessman Donald Trump in defamation suits and other legal battles.