Former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY) was one of 44 ex-members of the upper chamber to put his name to an open letter which ran in the Washington Post Tuesday — in defense of Robert Mueller‘s probe.

Simpson was invited on CNN’s New Day to discuss the letter — which was, in part, a call for civility. (“During our service in the Senate, at times we were allies and at other times opponents, but never enemies.”) But in his chat with Alisyn Camerota, the former Wyoming Senator exhibited little.

The tension began when Camerota asked Simpson about comments from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) — who said “I don’t care” about President Donald Trump‘s suspected campaign finance crimes.

“Oh, I don’t want to get into that kind of stuff,” Simpson said. “I can tell you one thing that would solve everything. Now, you want to hear this: Every U.S. Senator who goes to the Judiciary Committee should have a full FBI investigation from birth until they go on the committee. That’ll take care of a lot of this crap.”

“How would that take of what we’ve seen happen with Donald Trump?” Camerota asked.

“Because you don’t go back into the life beyond,” Simpson said. “Hell, when I was 18, I was on Federal probation for shooting mailboxes. I fought a cop. I got thrown in the clink a night…Whatever happened to the mote in the eye of all these guys who are always bitching, whining, moaning. They want a piece of everybody.”

Simpson added, “If you want to pick old scabs, you better pick a new guy to go on the show.”

Camerota asked for clarification.

“Now I have to watch a movie on Gary Hart!” Simpson said. “If that ain’t picking an old scab, you tell me what it is.”

The former Senator also cited Chappaquiddick and Clarence Thomas as other old scabs.

“Why don’t you leave people alone and go find some new work?” Simpson said.

Watch this head-scratching chat — from its rocky beginning to its testy conclusion — above, via CNN.

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