Sen. Angus King: Comey Should Consult for Senate Intelligence Committee

Fired FBI Director James Comey "makes some sense" to serve as a consultant to the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation on Russia, Sen. Angus King said Thursday.

"Number one, he needs a job," the independent Maine lawmaker, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "Number two, he's of impeccable integrity. He knows this issue, he knows investigating, and I'm going to urge my colleagues that we consider having him at least as a consultant."

Comey should have at least some role in the investigation, said King.

"My original suggestion was we put him in charge of the staff to lead the investigation," King said. "I'm not sure that's going to happen, but clearly I think he has a contribution to make, and we shouldn't let his knowledge and experience sit on the side of the road."

King also commented on President Donald Trump's meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at the Oval office, and the fact that members of the U.S. press were not permitted in the room.

"In the aftermath of the firing of James Comey to have that on top of it, it really doesn't make a lot of sense," King said. "I think that this is, you know, sort of spiraling out of control. I'm trying to keep my head down and work on our investigation in the Senate Intelligence Committee and not be distracted by the polls and all of the atmospherics that are going on because we're making some progress and we're going to keep at it."

King also said he does not believe Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whose report on Comey was cited in Trump's decision to fire Comey, should oversee the investigation into Russia and allegations of ties to the Trump organization.

"There's a statute still in place where he has the power to appoint an independent counsel or special counsel," King said. "I think that's absolutely necessary. I mean, the problem number one, I don't understand [Attorney General] Jeff Sessions being involved in the decision to fire James Comey. He recused himself from anything to do with Russia and said directly or indirectly and then signs the letter to the president saying you have to fire this guy."

"He shouldn't have been involved in that decision. And Rosenstein submitted this memo the day of the firing. It looks awfully much like — I think it's call reverse engineering."

King said he also finds it hard to believe that Comey would have given Trump assurances that he wasn't under investigation, calling into doubt Trump's comments on that topic in his letter firing Comey.

"I don't know what he said," King said. "We've all been in conversations where we hear what we want to hear. I'm skeptical. The last line was sort of weird, too. Good luck in your future endeavors. I have a hard time believing that Director Comey would have made a statement like that to the president under these circumstances."

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• CNN: Comey Fired Over Loyalty and Russia