--- title: Joe Lieberman Withdraws Name From FBI Director List description: Lieberman has withdrawn his name for FBI Director, citing a desire to avoid appearance of conflicts of interest. canonical: https://time.com/4794719/joe-lieberman-fbi-director-donald-trump/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-25T19:04:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T05:07:40.531Z article:section: Politics og:title: Joe Lieberman Withdraws From Consideration For FBI Director og:description: "Just being thought of for this position was a great honor" og:url: https://time.com/4794719/joe-lieberman-fbi-director-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08574bbac5c7df82/6987eb7be53aba72724db5c5/john-mccain-joe-lieberman-lindsey-graham-presidential-candidate-election-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Lindsey Graham John McCain Joe Lieberman og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joe Lieberman Withdraws From Consideration For FBI Director twitter:description: "Just being thought of for this position was a great honor" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08574bbac5c7df82/6987eb7be53aba72724db5c5/john-mccain-joe-lieberman-lindsey-graham-presidential-candidate-election-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Joe Lieberman Withdraws Name From Consideration for FBI Director  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 25, 2017 7:04 PM UTC  The three Senators, shown here in 2009, often appeared at each other's press conferences. The three Senators, shown here in 2009, often appeared at each other's press conferences.Chris Kleponis—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson May 25, 2017 7:04 PM UTC Former Connecticut Senator and Vice Presidential candidate [Joseph Lieberman](http://time.com/3059340/joe-lieberman-israel-obama-gaza-hillary/) has withdrawn his name from consideration for the position of FBI Director, citing a desire to avoid conflicts of interest after the President Donald Trump retained a partner at Lieberman’s law firm to represent him in ongoing Russia investigations. Lieberman is senior counsel at the law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, whose name partner [Marc Kasowitz](http://time.com/4793909/trump-allies-white-house-russia/?iid=sr-link3) was recently retained by Trump to represent him in matters related to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the [Associated Press reports](http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article%5F2017-05-24-US--Trump%20Lawyer/id-ddafb45cc55f479f82226071203407d5). Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein [appointed former FBI Robert Mueller as special prosecutor](http://time.com/4783504/robert-mueller-russia-investigation-special-counsel-fbi/) to investigate this matter on May 17. “I have decided to withdraw my name from consideration for this nomination,” Lieberman wrote in a letter to [President Trump,](http://time.com/4794231/donald-trump-nato-brussels-belgium/) a copy of which was provided to TIME. “It would be best to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest,” he said. The White House announced last week that Lieberman was on the short list of people under consideration for FBI Director and that he was interviewing for the position. The permanent position remains vacant after President Trump fired [James Comey earlier this month. ](http://time.com/4773210/donald-trump-fires-fbi-director-james-comey/) The announcement that Lieberman was being considered angered some lawmakers — mainly Democrats — who argued that the position should be given to someone with no history of electoral politics. “All the voting history, all the party history, whatever it is, I would stay away from it. Stick with the professionals,” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin [told Politico.](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/18/joe-lieberman-fbi-director-senate-democrats-238570) Senator Sherrod Brown critiqued Lieberman for the very that caused him to withdraw his name: his place of employment. “Look where he works now, a Trump law firm. That tells me a lot,” Brown [told Politico. ](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/18/joe-lieberman-fbi-director-senate-democrats-238570) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4794719/joe-lieberman-fbi-director-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4794719/joe-lieberman-fbi-director-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Joe Lieberman Withdraws Name From Consideration for FBI Director","datePublished":"2017-05-25T19:04:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:07:40.531Z","description":"\"Just being thought of for this position was a great honor\"","url":"https://time.com/4794719/joe-lieberman-fbi-director-donald-trump/","keywords":["FBI","justice","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08574bbac5c7df82/6987eb7be53aba72724db5c5/john-mccain-joe-lieberman-lindsey-graham-presidential-candidate-election-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt08574bbac5c7df82/6987eb7be53aba72724db5c5/john-mccain-joe-lieberman-lindsey-graham-presidential-candidate-election-10.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Lindsey Graham John McCain Joe Lieberman","caption":"Lindsey Graham John McCain Joe Lieberman","creditText":"Chris Kleponis—Getty Images","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/fbi/","name":"FBI"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4794719/joe-lieberman-fbi-director-donald-trump/","name":"Joe Lieberman Withdraws Name From Consideration for FBI Director"}}]}] ```