Marco Rubio tapped as acting chair for US Senate intel panel

US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that he's tapping Senator Marco Rubio as acting chairman of the chamber's intelligence panel.

McConnell said in a statement on Monday that Rubio, a Florida Republican, has accepted his invitation to serve as acting chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Xinhua news agency reported.

Rubio, for his part, said in a statement that he's grateful to McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, for the confidence in him.

The announcement came several days after Senator Richard Burr, who is under investigation for stock trades he had made ahead of a market downturn triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, said that he was stepping aside as the Senate intelligence chair.

Rubio, 48, was first elected to the US Senate in 2010.

( With inputs from IANS )