Oklahoma U.S. Sen. James Lankford said Special Counsel Robert Mueller must be able to finish his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
"The challenge of any investigation like this is how long it could go on and how broad it could be," Lankford told Chuck Todd on NBC's "Meet The Press." "Again, you go back to the Reagan administration, that special counsel was in place six years. They extended past, even past the Reagan administration being in office. We don’t want to see that, but I do think Bob Mueller needs to be able to do his investigation, do it independently, stay in place."
The Senate Intelligence Committee is conducting its own investigation into Russian interference. Lankford said it does not duplicate Mueller's work.
"They’re focused on criminal investigations, we’re focused on armchair quarterbacking — making sure every witness has been seen, every fact has been checked — and we’re going through the policy aspects," Lankford said. "Because long term, we have policy issues we have to discuss on how we handle elections, how we handle social media, how we’re handling classified information, how that’s getting out in the public sphere."
While recent indictments have renewed rumors Mueller could be fired, Lankford said that won't happen.
"At some point, the president said he doesn’t need to be there. I don’t think that’s the White House position. The White House has said over and over again they have no desire to be able to push him out," Lankford said. "That shouldn’t be an action of Congress as well. Let’s let him finish his job."
Lankford said Congress won’t go as far as protecting Mueller, however.
