As Rubio assumes the acting chairmanship of the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Florida Republican is distancing himself from a GOP-led probe targeting Hunter Biden. He has declined to embrace Trump’s “Obamagate” claims. And he is warning the Republicans spearheading the Biden investigation not to promote Russian disinformation in the process.

“I’m not going to accuse any member who believes that they are exercising oversight to be colluding with a foreign power,” Rubio said in an interview last week. “I will say to you that I think it’s pretty clear that the Russians are constantly pursuing narratives that they believe will drive conflict in our politics and divide us against each other.”…

Rubio’s Republican counterpart on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), has been hinting at “criminal referrals” for members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team. Rubio is steering clear of those and other efforts that Democrats — and privately, some Republicans — say could aid Russian intelligence.