Issa led the ultimately fruitless investigation into the Obama administration’s response to the deadly 2012 attack on a U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya. Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Republican congressmember Darrell Issa is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate the possible connections between Trump officials and Russia. Appearing on HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher on Friday night, the California Republican said that it would be inappropriate for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to handle the investigation:

You cannot have somebody, a friend of mine Jeff Sessions, who was on the [Trump] campaign and who is an appointee. You’re going to need to use the special prosecutor’s statute and office to take — not just to recuse. You can’t just give it to your deputy. That’s another political appointee.

Issa, the former chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, was also asked by Maher if he was going to let the Russia controversy “slide,” and the congressman insisted that he and his colleagues would not. “We’re going to ask the intelligence committees of the House and Senate to investigate within the special areas they oversee,” he replied, though Issa did not go so far as to agree that Trump officials should be subpoenaed.

Issa, who supported Trump during the presidential election, almost lost his November reelection bid in a district that voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton.