Republican Sen. Tim Scott Timothy (Tim) Eugene ScottAuthor Ryan Girdusky: RNC worked best when highlighting 'regular people' as opposed to 'standard Republicans' Now is the time to renew our focus on students and their futures GOP lobbyists pleasantly surprised by Republican convention MORE (S.C.) said Sunday that the FBI’s failure to act on a tip about the accused Florida shooter is “a separate issue” from the bureau’s focus on the Russia investigation, responding after President Trump Donald John TrumpUS reimposes UN sanctions on Iran amid increasing tensions Jeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Trump supporters chant 'Fill that seat' at North Carolina rally MORE linked the two.

“I think we have to separate the issue, without any question. The first issue is, in fact, that the FBI missed an opportunity to weigh in heavily and perhaps prevent something from happening. That is a tragedy that should be investigated,” Scott told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Trump said Saturday that the FBI is “spending too much time” on the Russia probe, suggesting it could be why the bureau did not follow up on a tip about the accused shooter who officials say killed 17 people last week at a South Florida high school. The FBI acknowledged Friday it did not follow "protocols" after a tip was phoned in last January.

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“Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!”

The FBI in a statement last week acknowledged that the tip it received about the accused shooter never made it to the bureau’s Miami field office.

“Under established protocols, the information provided by the caller should have been assessed as a potential threat to life,” the bureau said.

Scott said congressional oversight of the FBI’s failure will probe where the bureau went wrong.

“A separate issue is how they spend their time, and whether or not the time is well spent on this Russian situation,” Scott said. “I will tell you that from my perspective, that so many folks in the FBI are doing all that they can to keep us safe, the reality of it is that they are two separate issues.”