Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said early Thursday that James Comey is “about as popular as cholera” with lawmakers in an interview one day after the FBI director testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"It’s no secret Comey doesn’t get invited to many parties on Capitol Hill,” Kennedy, a member of the committee, told CNN's "New Day." "He’s about as popular as cholera. But I respect that about him.”

Kennedy said he appreciated Comey’s “candor” during his Wednesday testimony.

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The FBI head on Wednesday defended his controversial decision to announce days before the presidential election that the bureau had renewed its investigation into Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonBiden courts veterans amid fallout from Trump military controversies Biden looks to shore up Latino support in Florida MLB owner: It's 'very necessary' to vote for Trump MORE’s private email server.

He said not speaking up about the discovery of new emails possibly related to the investigation would have been a “catastrophic” act of concealment but added that "it makes me mildly nauseous to think we had an impact on the election."

"The impression I get about Comey is he’s going to do his job and he doesn’t much care who gets mad at him,” Kennedy said Thursday.

"He gave me straight-up answers. He answered yes and no questions with yes and no," Kennedy said. "I also pressed him pretty hard on the investigation about Russia’s interference with the last round of elections."

In one exchange on Wednesday with Kennedy, Comey revealed longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin “had a regular practice of forwarding emails” to her now-estranged husband Anthony Weiner to print out.