--- title: Joe Lieberman Could Be Donald Trump's Pick for FBI Director description: Joe Lieberman, former Democratic vice-presidential nominee, has emerged as the frontrunner to become the new FBI Director canonical: https://time.com/4784829/who-is-joe-lieberman-fbi-director/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-18T19:51:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:03:15.133Z article:section: Politics og:title: 8 Things to Know About Joe Lieberman og:description: He's emerged as a potential frontrunner for FBI director. og:url: https://time.com/4784829/who-is-joe-lieberman-fbi-director/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81964a2a8d605207/69869de055a8595913a82008/joe-lieberman.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3862 og:image:height: 2172 og:image:alt: Joeseph Lieberman og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 8 Things to Know About Joe Lieberman twitter:description: He's emerged as a potential frontrunner for FBI director. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81964a2a8d605207/69869de055a8595913a82008/joe-lieberman.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 8 Things to Know About Joe Lieberman > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d7264d47-5072-4fe5-9cce-750cccf93ddf&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Sally Yates Told the White House Michael Flynn 'Could Be Blackmailed' by Russia [Watch (HLS stream): Sally Yates Told the White House Michael Flynn 'Could Be Blackmailed' by Russia](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/t1CmGtRt.m3u8) (1:32)  _Published 2017-05-08. Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, speaking publicly for the first time about concerns she brought to the Trump White House on Russia, told Congress on Monday she warned that Michael Flynn "essentially could be blackmailed" by Russia_ by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 18, 2017 7:51 PM UTC by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins May 18, 2017 7:51 PM UTC Joe Lieberman has emerged as a possible frontrunner to become the new FBI director in the wake of James Comey’s firing. The former Democratic vice-presidential nominee, 75, is one of three finalists for the post, which traditionally has a 10-year term. Speaking to reporters before a meeting with President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, President Trump said he is “very close” to naming an FBI director and confirmed that Lieberman was one of the top candidates. Here’s what you need to know about Lieberman ahead of Trump’s decision: ## 1\. He was a longtime Democratic senator Lieberman defeated Republican incumbent Lowell Weicker in 1988 and served as a senator from Connecticut until 2013. ## 2\. He was one of the first Democrats to signal disapproval of Bill Clinton over Monica Lewinsky In 1998, Lieberman gave a scathing critique of President Bill Clinton over his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky on the floor of the Senate. “I was disappointed because the president of the United States had just confessed to engaging in an extramarital affair with a young woman in his employ and to willfully deceiving the nation about his conduct,” Lieberman [said](http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/09/03/lieberman/), later adding, “The implications for our country are so serious that I feel a responsibility to my constituents in Connecticut, as well as to my conscience, to voice my concerns forthrightly and publicly.” ## 3\. He was Al Gore’s running mate in 2000 Then-Democratic nominee Al Gore chose Lieberman for his running mate in the 2000 presidential election, making the Senator the [first Jewish candidate](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=121120) on a major American party presidential ticket. ## 4\. He later turned Independent In order to keep his senate seat in 2006, Lieberman chose to run as an Independent under the “Connecticut for Lieberman” party label. But ultimately the decision to go Independent wasn’t just to keep his job. “I feel the Democratic Party left me,” he would later [tell the Daily Beast in 2012.](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/18/joe-lieberman-s-slow-motion-divorce-from-the-democratic-party) “It was no longer the party it was when I joined it in the image of President Kennedy.” ## 5\. He spoke at the 2008 Republican Convention After serving the Democratic party for years, Lieberman spoke at the 2008 Republican National Convention — still as an Independent — on behalf of then-presidential candidate John McCain. In a scorecard of the event, [TIME in 2008 said](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1838223%5F1838222,00.html) Lieberman delivered an “odd, disjointed speech from a man with perhaps too many parties to make a coherent argument,” but noted the huge round of applause he got for urging “country over party.” ## 6\. He endorsed Hillary Clinton Staying true to his maverick image, Lieberman in 2016 [endorsed Hillary Clinton for President](http://www.msnbc.com/mtp-daily/watch/joe-lieberman-endorses-clinton-742740035642), saying he watched her “time and again reach across party lines to get things done” and that he believed she was “willing to compromise” if elected president. ## 7\. He was Attorney General of Connecticut before going into the Senate A graduate of Yale Law School, Lieberman served as Connecticut’s Attorney General from 1983 to 1989 before launching his career in the U.S. Senate. ## 8\. Lieberman currently works with a firm that represented Trump before he became President Lieberman is now senior counsel with Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman — a firm that has [represented Trump in the past](http://www.newsweek.com/fbi-director-joe-lieberman-trump-kasowitz-611182) for defamation suits and other legal battles. ## Transcript I had two in person meetings and one phone call with the White House Counsel about Mr. Flynn. We told them that we were giving them all of this information so they could take action, the action that they deemed appropriate. I remember the Mr. McGahn asked me whether or not General Flynn should be fired, And I told him that that really wasn't our call, that was up to them, but that we were giving them this information so that they could take action. We were concerned that the American people had been misled about the underlying conduct and what General Flynn had done, and additionally, that we weren't the only ones that knew all of this. That the Russians also knew about what General Flynn had done. And the Russians also knew that General Flynn had misled the vice president and others, because in the media accounts, it was clear from the vice president and others that they were repeating what General Flynn had told them, and that this was a problem, Because not only did we believe that the Russians knew this, but that they likely had proof of this information. And that created a compromise situation. A situation where the national security advisor essentially could be blackmailed by the Russians. Every time this lie was repeated And the misrepresentations were getting more and more specific as they were coming out, every time that happened, it increased the compromise and to state the obvious, you don't want your national security adviser compromised with the Russians. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4784829/who-is-joe-lieberman-fbi-director/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4784829/who-is-joe-lieberman-fbi-director/"},"headline":"8 Things to Know About Joe Lieberman","datePublished":"2017-05-18T19:51:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:03:15.133Z","description":"Joe Lieberman, former Democratic vice-presidential nominee, has emerged as the frontrunner to become the new FBI Director","url":"https://time.com/4784829/who-is-joe-lieberman-fbi-director/","keywords":["White House","FBI","Donald Trump","James Comey","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81964a2a8d605207/69869de055a8595913a82008/joe-lieberman.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81964a2a8d605207/69869de055a8595913a82008/joe-lieberman.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Joeseph Lieberman","caption":"Joeseph Lieberman","creditText":"Susan Walsh—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4784829/who-is-joe-lieberman-fbi-director/","name":"8 Things to Know About Joe Lieberman"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Sally Yates Told the White House Michael Flynn 'Could Be Blackmailed' by Russia","description":"Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, speaking publicly for the first time about concerns she brought to the Trump White House on Russia, told Congress on Monday she warned that Michael Flynn \"essentially could be blackmailed\" by Russia","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/t1CmGtRt/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-05-08T21:34:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/t1CmGtRt.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4784829/who-is-joe-lieberman-fbi-director/","duration":"PT1M32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4784829/who-is-joe-lieberman-fbi-director/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```