Attorney General Jeff Sessions is entirely in the right to participate in the hiring of the next FBI director, even amid his recusal from a probe into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said Sunday.
"I completely disagree with the suggestion that [Sessions] has to detach himself from the process of finding an FBI director," Lee told host Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday," per The Hill.
Lee said Sessions needs to have a hand in selecting fired FBI Director James Comey's replacement – in deference to Sen. Mark Warner's, D-Va., earlier comments to Wallace.
"As attorney general, he'll be working with the FBI director in a whole lot of cases, involving a whole lot of matters that have nothing to do with anything as to which Attorney General Sessions has recused himself, so I completely disagree," Lee told Wallace. "I couldn't disagree more with that suggestion."
Story continues below the video.
"It is inappropriate for the attorney general, who was supposed to recuse himself from anything dealing with the Russian investigation," Sen. Warner told Wallace. "Clearly, the Russian investigation is tied into whoever the next FBI director is going to be because the president fired Comey because of his ties to the Russian investigation, that's very concerning to me.
"I don't believe he should be part of this review process, if he's going to have a true recusal. And whoever the future FBI director ought to be, it should have a law enforcement professional. This position has never been politicized. I hope the president won't choose a political nominee."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.