Rubio defends FBI on Trump probe

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) defended the FBI in comments on ABC on Sunday, saying he believes law enforcement was right to investigate “certain individuals” with suspicious histories connected to Russia.

Rubio argued the FBI was not investigating President Trump’s campaign, but was looking into these individuals, something he said was appropriate.

“As far as what I have seen to date, it appears that there was an investigation not of the campaign but of certain individuals who have a history that we should be suspicious of that predate the presidential campaign of 2015, 2016.” Rubio said on ABC’s “This Week.”

{mosads}“When individuals like that are in the orbit of a major political campaign in America, the FBI, who is in charge of counterintelligence investigations, should look at people like that,” Rubio added. “But they’re not investigating the campaign, they’re investigating those people.”

Rubio made the remarks in response to Trump’s argument that the FBI improperly spied on his presidential campaign through the use of the informant.

“The Democrats are now alluding to the the concept that having an Informant placed in an opposing party’s campaign is different than having a Spy, as illegal as that may be,” he tweeted on Friday. “But what about an ‘Informant’ who is paid a fortune and who ‘sets up’ way earlier than the Russian Hoax?”

It’s not clear whether the FBI paid the informant. 

Rubio did not give a direct answer to questions on ABC about whether Trump’s claims were wrong.

“I have no evidence that those people were part of an investigation on the campaign. If that exists, I would want to know about it, we should all know about and that — that would be wrong and we should — we should do something about it,” he said.

“But up to now, what I have seen is evidence that they were investigating individuals with a history of links to Russia that were concerning.”

Rubio during a separate interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” also said he has seen no evidence of a spy in Trump’s campaign.

“I haven’t seen any yet but maybe there is, and if it’s there, we’ll find it and we want to know about it.”

–This report was updated at 11:09 a.m.