Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the vice chair of President-elect Donald Trump's transition team, said that it would be "inappropriate" to demand the Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey resign before Trump's inauguration.
The Tennessee Republican made the comment Friday on CNN's "New Day."
"I think it's inappropriate for anyone right now to say you have to do this or you have to do that. We are one week away from President-elect Trump taking the oath of office and being sworn in. We are just a little bit further than that from people taking these positions as the secretaries and head of agencies," Blackburn said.
"That is a discussion that he and Jeff Sessions, after he is confirmed, should have."
"I think that we leave this for now. Sen. Sessions, who will be the AG at that point, to sit down with Mr. Comey and begin to unravel what it is that has transpired over the last several months," Blackburn said, referring to Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, who is in confirmation hearings for U.S. attorney general.
When asked whether Trump would consider removing Comey from the job, Blackburn said, "I think that the appropriate thing at this point in time is to set aside conjecture and to allow the proper process to take place. What people want this country to return to is orderly process. So let's set this aside and let them handle it in the appropriate way."
The Wall Street Journal's editorial board on Friday called on Comey to resign his post.
"The best service Mr. Comey can render his country now is to resign."
If he does not, Sessions should meet with him after his confirmation and ask him to do so, the board wrote.
Comey has been under fire for his decisions in the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server. The U.S. Justice Department's inspector general has opened an investigation into whether the FBI followed appropriate procedures in that probe.
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