Sources: Obama to nominate ex-Bush official to head FBI
Sources: Obama to nominate ex-Bush official to head FBI
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is preparing to nominate former Bush administration official James Comey to head the FBI, people familiar with the decision said Wednesday.
Three people with knowledge of the selection said Obama planned to nominate Comey, who was the No. 2 in President George W. Bush’s Justice Department. The three people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the selection ahead of Obama’s announcement, which was not expected immediately.
Comey became a hero to Democratic opponents of Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program when Comey refused for a time to reauthorize it. Bush revised the surveillance program when confronted with the threat of resignation by Comey and current FBI Director Robert Mueller, who is stepping down in September.
Comey’s selection was first reported by NPR and was not expected to be announced for several days at least. Senate confirmation will be needed.
The change in leadership comes as the FBI and Justice Department are under scrutiny for their handing of several investigations. Obama has ordered a review of FBI investigations into leaks to reporters, including the secret gathering of Associated Press phone records and emails of a Fox News reporter. And there have been questions raised about whether the FBI properly responded to warnings from Russian authorities about a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. The agency, meanwhile, is conducting a highly-anticipated investigation into the Internal Revenue Service over its handling of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.
Man charged in hacking murder of UK soldier
LONDON — Police have charged a man with murder in the killing of a British soldier in a suspected Islamic extremist attack in broad daylight on a London street.
Michael Adebowale, 22, was charged late Wednesday by counterterrorism officers and will appear in court on Thursday, police said. He is one of two main suspects in the killing of Lee Rigby, 25, who was struck by a car and stabbed to death last week near his barracks in southeast London’s Woolwich district.
Gruesome images that emerged after the attack showed two men wielding bloody knives and meat cleavers. Both men were shot and wounded by police.
Suspect Michael Adebolajo, 28, remains hospitalized in stable condition. Adebowale was discharged from a hospital Tuesday and taken into custody. Adebowale also was charged with a firearms offense related to possessing a 9.4 mm revolver with the intent “to cause persons to believe that unlawful violence would be used,” police said in a statement.
Letters sent to NYC mayor contain ricin
NEW YORK — Two threatening letters containing traces of the deadly poison ricin were sent to Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York and his gun-control group in Washington, police said Wednesday.
The anonymous letters were opened in New York on Friday at the city’s mail facility in Manhattan and in Washington on Sunday at an office used by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the nonprofit started by Bloomberg, police said.
Chief New York Police spokesman Paul Browne said preliminary testing indicated the presence of ricin in both letters but that more testing would be done. He said the threats contained references to the debate on gun laws and an oily pinkish-orange substance.
The billionaire mayor has emerged as one of the country’s most potent gun-control advocates, able to press his case with both his public position and his private money.
The people who initially came into contact with the letters showed no symptoms of exposure to the poison.
By wire sources