Democrats Push Again to Protect Mueller

News  |  Sep 24, 2018

Democrats on Capitol Hill are reviving the push to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller from the whims of the president after a confusing Monday morning of conflicting news reports concerning whether Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will get to keep his job.

Rosenstein oversees the Russia investigation. 

NBC News:

"Saturday Night Massacres don't need to happen on a Saturday," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said on Twitter, referring to former President Richard Nixon's firing of a special prosecutor and acceptance of two top Justice Department officials' resignations during the Watergate scandal. "If President Trump fires DAG Rod Rosenstein or forces his resignation, he will come one giant leap closer to directly meddling with the Special Counsel's Russia investigation."

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The president is scheduled to meet on Thursday with Rosenstein at the deputy Attorney General's request, according to the White House.

Republicans have previously said that legislation to protect the Mueller investigation was unnecessary, but Monday's developments have fired up Democrats anew.

Democrats have been putting together a contingency plan for Rosenstein or Mueller's firing for months, vowing a crisis response that would include enormous protests and legislating to try and protect the investigation's documents from being destroyed or his team being disbanded.

Leahy and other legislators including Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., on Monday called for the passage of bipartisan legislation designed to protect the special counsel’s investigation. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., called for a vote to occur immediately.

“We can no longer afford to wait,” she wrote in a tweet.

"Congress must take immediate steps to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law—which protects all of us—by shielding the Mueller investigation against President Trump’s obstruction," Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., said in a statement released while Rosenstein's job status was still up in the air.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, called for emergency congressional hearings, saying that Rosenstein's removal "would pose a serious and profound threat" to the Mueller investigation.

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“There is nothing more important to the integrity of law enforcement and the rule of law than protecting the investigation of Special Counsel Mueller. I sacrificed personally and professionally to help put the investigation on a proper course and subsequently made every effort to protect it," [Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe] said, adding that he did not leak any news to the media after former FBI Director James Comey's firing. "If the rumors of Deputy AG's Rosenstein’s departure are true, I am deeply concerned that it puts that investigation at risk."

Democrats renew calls for Congress to protect Mueller probe after Rosenstein reports (NBC News)