Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) tweeted that President Donald Trump should consider Merrick Garland, former President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, to direct the FBI. | Getty Sen. Mike Lee tweets Trump: Nominate Merrick Garland to replace Comey

Utah Sen. Mike Lee encouraged President Donald Trump on Thursday to resist Democrats’ calls for a special prosecutor to lead an investigation into potential collusion between Trump associates and Russian officials.

Instead, the Republican senator suggested the president name a replacement for fired FBI Director James Comey who could get Democratic support in the Senate, which would have to confirm Trump’s nominee to a 10-year term.


“Instead of a special prosecutor, @realDonaldTrump should nominate Merrick Garland to replace James Comey,” Lee tweeted.

While the tweet is seemingly facetious, a Lee spokesman said the senator raised the prospect with the White House on Wednesday. The reception by White House staff was mixed.

“I think it has some advantages to it because as you point out this is someone who has a lot of bona fides as a prosecutor,” Lee told Fox News in an interview later Thursday. “This is a prosecutor’s prosecutor, and he’s someone who’s got likely allies as a potential FBI director nominee in both political parties.”

Fellow Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) signaled her support for Garland via Twitter but said a special prosecutor is still necessary.

“Good idea @SenMikeLee,” she tweeted. “Former prosecutor Merrick Garland for FBI Director is great idea. Need special prosecutor too.”

She added dismissively on Thursday afternoon, “To be clear, this isn’t going to happen.” Responding to warnings that pulling Garland off the court is a trap to win a Republican seat, Klobuchar suggested she only retweeted Lee because “it’s a good idea for Rs to think about consensus FBI candidates.”

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, called it an “interesting idea,” noting that she “thinks very highly” of the veteran jurist.

Former President Barack Obama nominated Garland to the Supreme Court in the final year of his presidency. Garland, however, was blocked by Senate Republicans, who maintained that voters should have a say in who filled the seat left vacant by the death of Antonin Scalia.

Trump won the presidential election in November and nominated Neil Gorsuch in January. Gorsuch was confirmed to the Supreme Court last month after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell invoked the so-called nuclear option, reducing the 60-vote threshold to confirm Supreme Court nominees to a simple majority.

Nominating Garland would give the president an opening to appoint someone to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the most powerful court aside from the Supreme Court. Garland is chief judge of the D.C. Circuit, which currently has seven Democratic and four Republican appointees. Democrats upset Republicans when they invoked the nuclear option in 2013 to fill several vacancies on the court with Obama nominees.

“This is nothing more than a cynical and clever ploy by Senator Lee to win a D.C. Circuit seat,” one Senate Democratic leadership aide said. “Giving up Judge Garland’s lifetime seat on the D.C. Circuit for a job in which President Trump could fire him at will is a bad idea.”

But Feinstein dismissed that as an issue: “The issue really is to get the best possible person to run the FBI. It’s the most important law enforcement agency.”

Citing Garland’s “long history of prosecutorial experience,” Lee framed the former Supreme Court nominee as “an exciting pick” to head the FBI.

“I don’t know him, haven’t discussed it with him,” Lee said when asked if Garland would give up his seat on the court, which would open it up for a Republican appointee. “That really would be up to him. But I would imagine that this might be a post that might interest him, and it might be a post that he could serve in very effectively.”

Despite past criticisms of Comey’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation, Democrats blasted Trump for abruptly firing the FBI director and called for a special prosecutor or independent commission to take over Comey’s investigation into Trump allies’ potential collusion with Russians.

POLITICO reported Wednesday a list of 11 possible contenders to replace Comey based on interviews with current and former officials. Garland didn’t make the cut.