Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that the qualities needed in an FBI director today are different from those he noted in 2017, the last time President-elect Donald Trump selected a leader for the bureau.

Kristen Welker, host of NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” replayed remarks Mr. Graham’s 2017 remarks, in which he said the president has a “duty and obligation to pick somebody beyond reproach, outside the political lane” and “somebody we can all rally around” for FBI director.

When Ms. Welker asked if Kash Patel, Mr. Trump’s pick for FBI director, is beyond reproach and someone people could rally around, Mr. Graham said times have changed.

“Well, I think you’re talking about what he should do the last time,” the South Carolina Republican said. “Look what’s happened since the last time. The FBI in the eyes of conservatives has become sort of a very biased organization.”

He criticized how the FBI handled certain issues such as the Christopher Steele dossier and Hunter Biden’s laptop.

“So the FBI we talked about then has changed. So what do I want in an FBI director now? Somebody that can clean it up, get back to the job of fighting crime,” Mr. Graham said. “Don’t have your thumb on the political scale. Make sure it’s not used as a political weapon against people that you have a beef with.”

“We don’t want to go back to the days of J. Edgar Hoover,” he said. “What we want to do is have an FBI that’s going to call balls and strikes, and it’s going to take somebody to clean out the place.”

If confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Patel would replace Director Christopher Wray, who has announced that he will resign next month.

Mr. Wray, who was nominated by Mr. Trump, was confirmed to the 10-year post in 2017.

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.