WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is interviewing candidates for the role of FBI director, incoming Vice President J.D. Vance said Tuesday in the clearest indication yet that the new administration is looking replacing current director Christopher Wray.

In a social media post that was later deleted, Vance defended himself against criticism over his absence from a Senate vote confirming a judicial nominee of President Joe Biden, saying that at the time of the vote, “I met with President Trump to interview for multiple positions for our government, including FBI Director.

“I tend to think it’s more important to get an FBI director who will dismantle the deep state than for Republicans to lose a 49-46 vote instead of 49-45,” he added on X , the platform formerly known as Twitter. “But that’s just me.”

Vance was referring to Monday’s Senate vote to confirm Embry J. Kidd, a Biden nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, a vote he and several other Republican senators missed.

An FBI spokesperson declined to comment.

“President-elect Trump is making decisions about who will serve in his second administration,” said Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for the Trump-Vance transition team. “These decisions will be announced by him as they are made.”

The position of FBI director is for a ten-year term, but Wray’s replacement would not be unexpected Trump’s long-standing criticism of the director he appointed when he was president seven years ago. Last summer, for example, Trump took to social media to call for Wray’s resignation after Wray appeared to vouch for Biden’s mental acuity.

Some Trump allies, including conservative strategist Steve Bannon, have been pushing Trump loyalist Kash Patel for the position, but other potential contenders for the job are also believed to include Mike Rogers. a former FBI agent and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who recently lost his bid for the U.S. Senate as a Republican from Michigan.

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Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report.