Joseph I. Lieberman leaves the White House last week after meeting with President Trump. (Olivier Douliery/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) 
 
 President Trump’s drive to find a new FBI director has lost its “Joe-mentum.” Former senator Joseph I. Lieberman today withdrew his name from consideration for the post, citing a conflict of interest because his law firm colleague has signed on to help the White House with the Russia investigations. 
 
 Lieberman had been considered a front-runner and met with Trump on May 17 to discuss succeeding James B. Comey. But Senate Democrats expressed reservations about their former colleague, who served as a Democrat and then as an independent. After Trump hired Marc Kasowitz, a partner in the firm where Lieberman is senior counsel, to help him navigate the investigations into the Trump team’s Russia ties, Lieberman’s prospects for becoming the head of the FBI decreased. 
 
 In a letter to Trump today, he officially took himself out of the running. 
 
 “Just being thought of for this position was a great honor because of my enormous respect for the men and women of the FBI and the critical and courageous work they do in protecting the American people from criminals and terrorists, and upholding our finest values,” he wrote. 
 
 “However, I have decided to withdraw my name from consideration for this nomination. With your selection of Marc Kasowitz to represent you in the various investigations that have begun, I do believe it would be best to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest, given my role as a senior counsel in the law firm of which Marc is the senior partner.” 
 
 A former partner in Kasowitz’s law firm, David Friedman, is now Trump’s ambassador to Israel. 
 
 Justice Department officials have continued to meet with potential candidates during Trump’s overseas trip this week. According to reports, candidates include New York City Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly, former House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers; former federal appellate court judge J. Michael Luttig; Paul Abbate, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch; and Larry Thompson, former deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush. 
 
 Several other candidates have also taken themselves out of consideration, including former assistant attorney general Alice Fisher, Associate Judge Michael Garcia of the New York Court of Appeals, career FBI official Richard McFeely, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.). ||||| Former Sen. Joe Lieberman told MSNBC Thursday that appointing him head of the FBI would have looked “terrible” after President Donald Trump retained an attorney from the law firm where Lieberman works to represent him in the Russia investigation. 
 
 “With everything swirling in Washington, you can’t have a director of the FBI coming from the same law firm as the president’s private lawyer. It looks terrible,” Lieberman said in an interview with MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace. 
 
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 The former Connecticut senator and one-time Democratic vice presidential nominee sent the White House a letter Wednesday withdrawing his name from the search to replace former FBI Director James Comey. 
 
 Related: Trump Says Lieberman a Top Pick for FBI Director 
 
 "With your selection of Marc Kasowitz to represent you in the various investigations that have begun, I do believe it would be best to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest, given my role as a senior counsel in the law firm of which Marc is the senior partner," Lieberman wrote Trump in the letter. 
 
 Lieberman also said the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel to oversee the Department of Justice’s Russia investigation reassured him the integrity of the agency would remain intact amid the recent turmoil. 
 
 Trump had said last week that Lieberman was a leading candidate to head the bureau, news that did not go over well with Lieberman’s former colleagues on Capitol Hill. 
 
 Lieberman, who unsuccessfully ran as Al Gore's running mate in 2000 and waged his own presidential bid four years later, lost his Democratic Senate primary race in Connecticut in 2006. He went on to win re-election as an independent, and in 2008 endorsed Republican Sen. John McCain for president. 
 
 While Republicans were largely approving of him becoming the next head of the FBI, Democrats said they would like to see a non-politician with a law enforcement background take the job. 
 
 “I was disappointed but you know, I guess when I step back from it I wasn’t surprised because everything is so partisan in Washington,” Lieberman said. “There’s still a group, probably in the far left of the Democratic party, who still doesn’t forgive me.” ||||| Washington (CNN) Former Sen. Joe Lieberman is one of President Donald Trump's top picks to be nominated as FBI director, Trump said Thursday. 
 
 Speaking to reporters while meeting with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Trump said he is "very close" to choosing a new FBI director to replace James Comey. And asked if Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent senator from Connecticut was a top candidate, Trump said yes. 
 
 Trump met with Lieberman Wednesday and found him "agreeable," a source said. 
 
 Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have been interviewing candidates to lead the bureau since Trump suddenly fired former Comey last week only a few years into what was created to be up to a 10-year term. 
 
 The circumstances surrounding the firing have made the appointment closely watched, with senators calling for an unimpeachable, nonpartisan appointment. 
 
 The firing drew instant criticism from both sides of the aisle, as Comey was overseeing the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 US election and any possible links between the Trump camp and Russia during the campaign. 
 
 While Trump's team initially claimed that the firing came after a review by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, laid out in a memo, that largely faulted Comey on his handling of the investigation into the private email server of Hillary Clinton, Trump later said in an interview he had already decided to fire Comey and cited the Russia investigation as being at the top of mind. 
 
 After the firing, Rosenstein announced he would appoint a special counsel to oversee the investigation -- his decision because Sessions recused himself from it. Rosenstein only informed the White House of his decision to bring on former FBI Director Robert Mueller after the order was signed and less than an hour before it was announced publicly. 
 
 The naming of the special counsel has appeased some Democrats, who were threatening to try to block any FBI director until such a move was made. But the appointment does not assuage all concerns, and an FBI director would still play a major role as things moved forward. 
 
 Already one red-state Democrat, who would be a top target for Republicans to support a candidate, stated she would not be pleased with Lieberman as a pick. 
 
 "It's a mistake to nominate anyone who's ever run for office," Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill told reporters. "I'm somebody who spent a lot of time in law enforcement; this is a moment where we need a law enforcement professional that's never campaigned for a presidential candidate, never campaigned for office, never worn a party label to head the FBI." 
 
 Lieberman's long history in politics 
 
 Lieberman was Democrat Al Gore's vice presidential nominee in 2000 and unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004. 
 
 But Lieberman, 75, is not necessarily popular with Democrats. He lost to a Senate primary challenger in 2006 and only retained his seat after he switched his party to independent. He also backed Republican Sen. John McCain's presidential bid in 2008 over Barack Obama, speaking at the Republican National Convention that year. 
 
 Since leaving the Senate, Lieberman has been a senior counsel at the New York law firm Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP and serves on a number of boards. 
 
 Potentially complicating his issues with Democrats, Lieberman's firm has represented Trump in past litigation. 
 
 Other candidates considered included current acting Director Andrew McCabe, former Oklahoma Gov. and FBI Agent Frank Keating, career FBI official Richard McFeely and Texas Sen. John Cornyn and New York Judge Michael Garcia, who both withdrew their names. 
 
 When Cornyn was under consideration, even his GOP colleagues questioned whether he would be the right choice as an elected official. 
 
 Lieberman's closest law enforcement experience is serving as his state's attorney general, an elected position. FBI directors traditionally have had prosecutorial experience, either as an FBI agent or as a member of the Justice Department. 
 
 Lieberman was born in Stamford, Connecticut, educated at Yale and Yale Law school, and served in the Connecticut state senate and as attorney general of the state before being elected as the state's Senator in Washington. 
 
 First elected in 1988, Lieberman served as a Democrat until 2006, when he became an independent who caucused with the Democrats. He did not seek re-election in 2012. 
 
 Lieberman is perhaps most famous for joining the ticket with Gore in his unsuccessful run for president in the 2000 election. Lieberman's selection as a vice presidential candidate was the first time a Jewish person was on a major party's presidential ticket. 
 
 The former senator was known to buck his party even before endorsing McCain. Lieberman was the first Democratic senator to criticize former President Bill Clinton publicly during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. 
 
 Lieberman is a devout follower of Orthodox Judaism. 
 
 Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify the question Trump was asked about Lieberman.
– Joe Lieberman, who was at one point considered the front-runner for FBI director, has dropped out of the running. The former senator said he wanted to avoid the "appearance of a conflict of interest" after President Trump hired Marc Kasowitz, who works at the same law firm as Lieberman, to help the White House deal with the Russia investigation, reports the Wall Street Journal. Other candidates, including former Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher, have also withdrawn from consideration, but the Justice Department has continued to interview candidates while Trump is on his foreign trip, including former NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly and Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, reports the Washington Post. Lieberman told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace Thursday that it wouldn't have looked good if he had taken the job, NBC News reports. "With everything swirling in Washington, you can't have a director of the FBI coming from the same law firm as the president's private lawyer. It looks terrible," he said.