Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recently said, “I don’t think he [President Trump] should fire Mueller and I don’t think he’s going to,” following calls from senators to draft legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller in the midst of the Russia investigation. However, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said Thursday that the committee will vote next week on a bill to protect the special counsel.
“Some have raised the question of why the committee plans on proceeding with the markup despite the fact that the majority leader has indicated that he will not take this bill up on the floor,” Grassley said during a committee meeting. “The views of the majority leader are obviously important to consider, but they do not govern what happens here on the Judiciary Committee.”
Currently, the bipartisan bill’s sponsors are Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Thom Tills (R-NC), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Cory Booker (D-NJ). Grassley has also promised them that the bill, named the Special Counsel Independence and Integrity Act, will head to a committee vote next week.
The bill stated that Mueller, or any future special counsel, can only be terminated, “for misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or other good cause,” according to a report from USA Today. Moreover, a special counsel who is fired could appeal to the courts to be reinstated.
Grassley explained this week, “Where there are issues of national importance, such as the appointment of special counsels and the investigation of a sitting president, Congress must consider its constitutional role and act to make sure that it can avail itself of its traditional checks against the executive branch.”
President Trump has continually referred to the investigation into possible Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential election as a “witch hunt,” insisting that there was no dialogue or back channels between his campaign and Russian actors.
“They’ve been saying I’m going to get rid of them for the last three months, four months, five months, and they’re still here,” Trump said at a news conference earlier this week. “So we want to get the investigation over with, done with. Put it behind us.”
Insofar as the passage of the bill is concerned, Tillis said it will be up to the committee itself to rally support.
“The reality is it’s on us to get the votes to get it passed,” Tillis said. While he does not think that the president will fire Mueller, “[I] can’t say the same for future presidents,” he said.
