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WASHINGTON - After a week of fallout from President Donald Trump's decision to fire FBI …
Graham: Trump Needs to ‘Back off’ Russia Probe, Let Investigation Go Forward
WASHINGTON - After a week of fallout from
President Donald Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey, Sen.
Lindsey Graham on Sunday advised the president to stop talking or
tweeting about the ongoing investigations into Russian meddling in the
2016 election.
"The president needs to back off here and let the investigation go forward," Graham, R-S.C., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on "Meet The Press."
"The president needs to back off here and let the investigation go forward," Graham, R-S.C., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on "Meet The Press."
"I think it's now time to pick somebody that comes from within the ranks or has such a reputation that has no political background at all, who can go into the job on day one," Graham said.
Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, one of Graham's colleagues in the upper chamber of Congress, was said to be interviewing for the job on Saturday along with several other candidates. Graham called Cornyn a "wonderful man."
"Under normal circumstances, he would be a superb choice to be FBI director," Graham said. "But these are not normal circumstances."
The Senate Judiciary Committee will get the first chance to examine the president's pick for the job.
Related: What You Need to Know About Trump, Comey and the Russia Probe
Graham said Sunday he wants Comey to come before the committee so the former FBI director can explain whether he ever felt the president was trying to impede the investigations during their conversations.
"Did the president ever say anything to the director of the FBI that would be construed as trying to impede the investigation?" Graham asked. "The president called me about the firing and he referenced the Comey testimony this week in the Judiciary Committee about how bad it was, so that's all I know."
"I think it's time to call the FBI director before the country at large and explain what happened at that dinner," he continued, referring to the Jan. 27 dinner at the White House in which Trump reportedly asked Comey for a loyalty pledge. "And if there are any tapes, they have to be turned over. You can't be cute about tapes."
Trump had taken to Twitter Friday to rail against the "fake media" and warn Comey that he "better hope that there are no 'tapes' of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!" When White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was asked at the daily press briefing later that day if the president had taped Comey, Spicer said, "The president has nothing further to add on that."
"I have no evidence that the president colluded with the Russians at all," Graham said. "Nobody on the campaign that I know of has colluded with the Russians. But we don't know all of the evidence yet."
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