Washington, May 19 (IANS) 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.

--IANS rt/