Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said there is some concern among his colleagues about giving too much power to the director of national intelligence. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images Rubio signals changes to election meddling bill

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Sunday signaled he is willing to alter bipartisan legislation that would automatically sanction Russia, or any other country, for any future election meddling in order to get it passed.

The proposed bill, known as the DETER Act and backed by Rubio and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), would bar foreign governments from buying ads to influence U.S. elections and would also give the director of national intelligence the power to deploy “national security tools,” such as sanctions, if the Kremlin interferes in another American election.


However, there is worry on Capitol Hill about giving the nation's spy chief, not the president, such power.

"That’s part of the bill that we’ll probably have to rework in some way," Rubio said on "Fox News Sunday." "There’s some concern about it."

"We want to pass a bill," the Florida Republican added, noting that most sanctions legislation includes a "presidential waiver."

Rubio said he and Van Hollen are willing to "make reasonable changes" to the measure in order for it to approved by both chambers and signed by the president.

Rubio, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential race, declined to say whether President Donald Trump should sit down for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller.

"I'm not in a position to give legal advice" to the president, Rubio said, adding it's "no mystery" that Trump is "annoyed by the probe because he feels he did not collude with Moscow."

He noted "plenty of innocent people" decline to sit for interviews with law enforcement officials.

"I believe it is in the best interests of the president and the United States of America and the American people for the investigation to run the course, for all the truth to come out," according to Rubio.

"If there was strong evidence of collusion, I guarantee you it would have leaked by now," he added. "But let’s wait for the process to play out."