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Washington • Sen. Mike Lee suggested Thursday that instead of appointing a special prosecutor to probe any ties between Russia and President Donald Trump's team, the White House should nominate one-time Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland to head the FBI.
Lee, R-Utah, tweeted Thursday morning that "instead of a special prosecutor," Trump should pick Garland to replace ousted FBI Director James Comey. Garland, the chief judge of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, was President Barack Obama's choice to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court, but Republicans refused to consider his nomination for months, until Obama's term was up.
"Judge Garland is an experienced federal prosecutor who oversaw the [Oklahoma City] bombing investigation," said Lee spokesman Conn Carroll. "He also has the strong bipartisan reputation necessary to restore trust in the FBI."
That's a different take than Lee expressed last year, when he said if Garland was confirmed to the high court, he would be a reliable Democratic vote.
"Democrats vote in lock step. … This is how it works. I don't think Merrick Garland would be any different," Lee said during a candidate debate in Provo.
He also told Fox News that, "I know he's regarded as a progressive, very liberal judge."
Lee, while at the White House on Wednesday, pitched administration officials on Garland heading the FBI.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., tweeted her support for Lee's suggestion, calling it a "great idea," but adding that there still needs to be a special prosecutor.
Klobuchar later clarified that she wasn't specifically endorsing Garland for the FBI gig, a move that would remove him from the appellate bench and allow Trump to appoint a more conservative judge to the court largely regarded as the second most powerful in the judiciary.
"To be clear, this isn't going to happen," Klobuchar tweeted, noting that she endorsed Lee's idea because it was good for Republicans to "think about consensus FBI candidates."
Trump fired Comey on Tuesday, arguing that he wasn't doing a good job heading the FBI, a move that shocked Washington and prompted several Democrats to cry foul, saying the president was trying to quash the agency's probe into possible collusion between the Russian goivernment and Trump's team in the 2016 election.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has asked the Justice Department's inspector general to look into Trump's ouster of Comey.