Trump May Tap Ex-Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers To Head FBI

WASHINGTON, DC — Former Michigan congressman and retired FBI agent Mike Rogers is among the candidates President Trump is considering as a permanent replacement for fired director James Comey, according to multiple reports. Trump said he sacked Comey because of lost confidence of his handling of the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state, but the dismissal came as Comey was investigating possible collusion between the Trump presidential campaign and Russia to swing the election to Trump and away from Clinton.

Sources not authorized to discuss administration deliberations told Patch that Rogers, 53, has several notable backers in the White House and Justice Department. As a former member of Congress — he retired after seven terms in 2015 to become a national security commentator on CNN — he would not have trouble being confirmed, the sources said.

They also said the former House Intelligence Committee chairman, who advised the Trump transition team on national security issues, should not have been included in the purge of people who were associated with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose credibility was damaged in the Bridgegate scandal. Rogers was replaced by Michael Flynn, the retired Army lieutenant general who misled the White House about his discussion of U.S. sanctions against Russia with that country’s envoy, Sergei Kislyak. Flynn was subsequently fired.

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Rogers has advocated aggressively pursuing leakers, which makes him an attractive choice for Trump, but like Comey, Rogers also publicly dismissed the president’s claims earlier this year that President Obama had spied on him.

On CNN, Rogers said Trump “put another quarter in the conspiracy parking meter.”

“It makes no sense to me whatsoever,” he said at the time. “The only winner in this whole thing is Vladimir Putin.”

Rogers was well-regarded in intelligence communities and for his bipartisan approach in the intelligence oversight role, but he is a hard-line conservative who could be viewed by Senate Democrats as too political a choice for an agency that is designed to function independently of politics. The Senate must confirm whoever Trump nominates, but only a simple majority is required.

Rogers, who was born in Livingston County, Michigan, served a four-year stint in the U.S. Army after graduating from Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan. After his discharge, he worked as a special agent with the FBI in the Chicago office, specializing in organized crime and public corruption.

He resigned in 1994 after his election to the Michigan State Senate, where he served until 2000, when he won election to Michigan’s 8th District.

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