One Republican’s Strange Choice to Replace James Comey

In the coming days, everyone in Washington and their brother will probably offer up a suggestion to the Trump administration about who would best be suited to take over for James Comey as director of the FBI, but we doubt we’ll hear too many suggestions stranger – or from a stranger source – than Senator Mike Lee’s. On Twitter Thursday, the conservative Republican said that Trump should replace Comey with…

“Instead of a special prosecutor, @realDonaldTrump should nominate Merrick Garland to replace James Comey,” Lee said.

Things that make you go…hmm.

Garland, of course, is the judge who was nominated by President Barack Obama to fill Antonin Scalia’s seat on the Supreme Court. His confirmation hearings never took place because Republicans decided that, because we were less than a year away from the election, the American people deserved to have a voice in the matter. That decision drove the Democrats crazy, but it was a gamble that ultimately paid off for Republicans; Trump won the presidency, nominated a constitutional conservative in Neil Gorsuch, and the Supreme Court avoided what could have been an extremely unfortunate decline into unlawful liberalism.

“I would imagine that this might be a post that might interest him and it might be a post that he could serve in very effectively,” Lee said on Fox News. “I suspect the White House might think it has some advantages to it. This is someone who has a lot of bonafides as a prosecutor, he’s a prosecutor’s prosecutor, and he’s someone who’s got likely allies as a potential FBI director nominee in both political parties.”

Professionally speaking, Garland has the kind of resume that would make it difficult for Republicans to oppose his nomination, and Democrats would naturally be thrilled to confirm him to the position. It would serve as a political olive branch, and it would go a long ways toward getting some of this Comey controversy to die away.

Now, does that mean it stands a chance of happening? Probably not. Garland would have to vacate his seat on the DC Circuit Court, which would let Trump replace him with a more conservative judge. Also, there’s no real indication that Garland himself would be interested in the position.

That said, stranger things have happened…