--- title: Mitch McConnell: Merrick Garland Recommended as FBI Director description: Merrick Garland has a new unexpected supporter in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell canonical: https://time.com/4780773/mitch-mcconnell-merrick-garland-fbi-director/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-16T16:36:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:17.698Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mitch McConnell: I Recommended Merrick Garland for FBI Director og:description: "I have spoken with the President about it, and I recommended Merrick Garland" og:url: https://time.com/4780773/mitch-mcconnell-merrick-garland-fbi-director/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7623584b31b655d/6988cd74656a3f4573bcfff2/gettyimages-605679596.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: mitch-mcconnell-recommends-merrick-garland-fbi-director og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mitch McConnell: I Recommended Merrick Garland for FBI Director twitter:description: "I have spoken with the President about it, and I recommended Merrick Garland" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7623584b31b655d/6988cd74656a3f4573bcfff2/gettyimages-605679596.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mitch McConnell: I Recommended Merrick Garland for FBI Director by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra May 16, 2017 4:36 PM UTC  Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, (R), meets with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), on Capitol Hill September 14, 2016 in Washington, DC. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said earlier in the week that the Senate Judiciary Committee will not hold hearings during this session of Congress. Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, (R), meets with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), on Capitol Hill September 14, 2016 in Washington, DC. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said earlier in the week that the Senate Judiciary Committee will not hold hearings during this session of Congress.Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Lisa Marie Segarra](https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra May 16, 2017 4:36 PM UTC Merrick Garland has a new supporter in Senate Majority Leader [Mitch McConnell.](http://time.com/4780644/mitch-mcconnell-white-house-trump-less-drama/) McConnell said that Garland would be his candidate of choice to replace FBI Director James Comey, [in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday.](https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-05-16/mcconnell-calls-for-less-drama-from-donald-trump-s-white-house) “I have spoken with the President about it, and I recommended Merrick Garland,” McConnell said. President Donald Trump [fired Comey](http://time.com/4776737/president-donald-trump-james-comey-fired-russia-investigation/) last Tuesday and the White House is[ interviewing possible replacements](http://time.com/4778426/james-comey-fired-president-donald-trump-fbi/). McConnell, who [denied Garland a confirmation hearing](http://time.com/4261973/mcconnell-senate-gop-merrick-garland-supreme-court/) when then-President Barack Obama nominated Garland to fill Antonin Scalia’s Supreme Court Justice seat, noted that the judge would make an ideal candidate because of his professional experience. “It may surprise people, but he has a deep background in criminal law, he was the prosecutor in the Oklahoma City bombing case,” McConnell said. “I think it would make it clear that President Trump will continue the tradition at the FBI of having an apolitical professional.” McConnell added that a pick with a law enforcement background without a history of political involvement will “serve \[Trump\] well, serve the country well and lead to a more bipartisan approach.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4780773/mitch-mcconnell-merrick-garland-fbi-director/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4780773/mitch-mcconnell-merrick-garland-fbi-director/"},"headline":"Mitch McConnell: I Recommended Merrick Garland for FBI Director","datePublished":"2017-05-16T16:36:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:17.698Z","description":"\"I have spoken with the President about it, and I recommended Merrick Garland\"","url":"https://time.com/4780773/mitch-mcconnell-merrick-garland-fbi-director/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7623584b31b655d/6988cd74656a3f4573bcfff2/gettyimages-605679596.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lisa Marie Segarra","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb7623584b31b655d/6988cd74656a3f4573bcfff2/gettyimages-605679596.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"mitch-mcconnell-recommends-merrick-garland-fbi-director","caption":"Senate Minority Democratic Harry Reid Meets With Supreme Court Nominee Merrick Garland On Capitol Hill","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4780773/mitch-mcconnell-merrick-garland-fbi-director/","name":"Mitch McConnell: I Recommended Merrick Garland for FBI Director"}}]}] ```