Congressman Peter King expressed support this afternoon for President Obama’s call to extend the term of F.B.I. Director Robert Mueller.
“I think Mueller’s been a good F.B.I. director,” King told me in a brief phone interview.
The White House had been conducting an extensive search for Mueller’s replacement before the president’s surprise announcement this afternoon, which asked Congress to extend Mueller’s ten-year term–set to expire in September–by an additional two years.
“My understanding from talking to people on the House floor is that it will pass,” said King, who chairs the Homeland Security Committee.
King said the public reports were the first he’d heard of the possibility–which is why he’d been publicly pushing NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly as recently as this morning. The president’s announcement came less than an hour after the Times posted an item about King’s support for Kelly.
“Ray Kelly was definitely in the running until it came out that I was supporting him,” King joked.
