Protestors took to the streets at 5pm Thursday in support of protecting Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, while in Congress, Senators Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Chris Coons (D-DE) will reignite a bipartisan push next week to get a vote on their bill that would shield Mueller should President Trump take action to remove him unlawfully.
The bipartisan Mueller protection legislation cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee in April but has seen no floor action amid public skepticism from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that Mueller’s Russia investigation faces any legitimate threat from President Donald Trump.
"The President has said on multiple occasions the Mueller investigation should be completed. He wish it would happen sooner. But I don't think there's any chance that the Mueller investigation will not be allowed to finish," McConnell told WVLK in an interview Thursday.
Democrats are all but guaranteed to support next week’s bipartisan push for action on the Mueller protection bill, which was the product of months-long talks to combine two different versions of the legislation.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) joined Flake and the Republican initial sponsors of the measures to protect the Mueller probe, Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, in voting for the bill when the committee approved it earlier this year.
In the meantime, activists are making it clear the president's apparent attempts to obstruct justice cannot continue unchecked.
The protests, operating under the banner "Nobody is Above the Law" and led by the activist group MoveOn, called for people to gather in cities at 5 p.m. on Thursday in an effort to protect the investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
The action was spurred by Trump's move on Wednesday to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions with Sessions' chief of staff, Matthew Whitaker, as acting attorney general. Sessions had recused himself from overseeing the Russia investigation, while Whitaker has called for it to be scaled down.
House Democrats say if the current Congress refuses to act, they will use their newly won majority to investigate Sessions' removal.
New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, who's likely to be the next House Judiciary Committee Chairman, said in a statement on Wednesday that he would investigate Sessions' dismissal.
"The American people understand that no person is above the law and have demanded accountability from their government. The firing of Jeff Sessions will be investigated and people will be held accountable. This must begin immediately, and if not, then a Democratic Congress will make this a priority in January," Nadler said.
On Thursday, Nadler called on current Judiciary Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte, a Republican from Virginia, to open an investigation into Sessions' departure. He and his Senate counterpart, California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein, also asked for preservation of all records related to the special counsel and the attorney general.
Flake, Coons push for vote on Mueller protection bill (Politico)
McConnell says he doesn't think there is "any chance" the president will end Mueller investigation (CBS News)
Activists call for nationwide protests to protect Mueller investigation (Reuters)