Trump has made no decision to act against Mueller and insists that he knows the risks of doing so but people close to the president say Trump is so volatile they can not be sure that he will not change his mind if he finds out anything to lead him to believe the investigation has been compromised, The New York Times said.
The notion that Mueller, a 72-year-old former Federal Bureau of Investigation director who has spent decades in the highest levels of the USA government, needs the special counsel gig badly enough to allow himself to be manipulated by Trump is laughable, but you have to remember that the president probably still believes that people live in genuine horror of him telling them "you're fired!" "I think he's weighing that option".
Congress' decision not to renew the law followed the independent counsel investigations of then-President Bill Clinton's conduct by the widely-criticized former Solicitor General Kenneth Starr and several other special prosecutors, which collectively cost almost $80 million. It marks a rather stark change of views for the former House speaker, who just a month ago tweeted that Mr Mueller was a "superb choice" as special counsel.
Mueller was appointed FBI Director by President George W. Bush in 2001 and served until 2013, when Comey took over as head.
Ruddy said the ethics behind Mueller's presence are concerning considering how he was appointed to be special counsel.
Later during the hearing, he said in response to a question from another senator, "If there were good cause [to fire Mueller] I would consider it".
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, a Republican, said during a press conference on Tuesday, "I think the best vindication for the president is to let this investigation go on independently", meaning the president should not interfere with Mueller's work. If Trump was to fire Mueller, many states with Democratic governors would step up and sue him for a variety of likely illegal actions.
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about Ruddy's claims.
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The public testimony Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence committee should yield Sessions' most extensive comments to date on questions that have dogged his tenure as attorney general and that led him three months ago to recuse himself from the Russian Federation probe. But if President Trump or his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, wanted to eliminate Mueller, they could: The law that would've stopped them has expired.
So far, Mr Trump has only directed his criticism at former FBI Director James Comey.
We have already seen an extraordinary number of leaks coming from the intelligence community and even from within the White House itself. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax Media, based his Mueller comment on a television interview with one of Trump's lawyers.
Trump has repeatedly denied colluding with Russian Federation during the presidential campaign, and Comey and others have testified that there is no evidence to the contrary.
Gingrich and Ruddy said it would be a "mistake" for Trump to remove Mueller, although both said they see the probe as unnecessary.
Second, what happens as Trump moves down the line of succession?
"I think he's considering perhaps terminating the special counsel".
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