There are still a lot of questions about what happened with FBI Director James Comey's firing, but the controversy shouldn't derail President Donald Trump's agenda, former Vice President Dan Quayle told CNBC on Thursday.
Quayle spoke soon after Trump told NBC News he was going to fire the "showboat" FBI director "regardless" of what the Justice Department recommended, directly contradicting what the White House said Wednesday.
"He can go full steam ahead with his agenda, but he's got to right the ship," Quayle said in an interview with "Power Lunch."
"They've got to get this under control, find out what the facts are and get them all out as soon as possible."
He also thinks the administration should put forward a new FBI director quickly, which will "change the story to some extent."
Since Comey was abruptly fired on Tuesday, the White House has been scrambling to justify the timing of his termination.
Officials said he lost his job because of his conduct in the probe into Hillary Clinton's email last year, not because of the FBI's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Comey first revealed the Russia probe publicly in March; it includes any possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Quayle said the fact that Comey was dismissed isn't totally shocking, but "I think what has shocked the community and the people in Washington is the way that it was done."
He also said he doesn't think the Russian investigation is the reason Comey was axed.
In fact, "now the Russian investigation is going to intensify," he said.
—CNBC's Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.