President Barack Obama will nominate former deputy attorney general James Comey to succeed Robert Mueller as FBI Director, sources familiar with the decision told NBC News' Pete Williams on Wednesday.
Comey, a Republican who served under President George W. Bush, would take over after Mueller steps down in September.Mueller took over the FBI just one week before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Mueller, who has previously made public his long-term plans to step down in the coming months, has spent 12 years as head of the FBI. He took over the agency one week before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. He has recently been criticized for the agency's apparent failure to more thoroughly investigate Boston bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev after being alerted by foreign agencies.