A longtime confidante of Donald Trump said in a television interview last night that the U.S. president was considering firing special counsel Robert Mueller, who is now leading the FBI's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Newsmax Media chief executive Christopher Ruddy, a close friend of Trump's, told PBS' "NewsHour" the President is "considering, perhaps, terminating the special counsel". Press secretary said Ruddy has never spoken with Trump about Mueller and is not authorized to speak on the matter, which falls far short of a ringing endorsement for Mueller.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein testified Tuesday that if the president ordered him to fire the special counsel handling the Russian Federation investigation, he would only comply if the request was "lawful and appropriate".
Donald Trump is considering firing Robert Mueller, the special counsel overseeing the Russian Federation probe, according to the president's close friend Chris Ruddy.
The regulations provide that Mueller can "be disciplined or removed from office only by the personal action of the Attorney General" (again, Rosenstein here, because Sessions is recused) and only for "good cause".
Another talk-radio Trump booster, Laura Ingraham, who was rumoured to have been considered for a White House position, directed her followers to a story in a conservative newspaper that suggests Mueller might be tainted. He added that fundraising records show some of the lawyers whom Mueller selected for his team have contributed to Democrats.
He called because "I have been very clear" about Mueller and the lawyers he's hired amounting to a "rigged game", Gingrich said in an interview Tuesday on CBS.
A person close to Trump's legal team said earlier Tuesday that there have been no discussions about firing Mueller with the legal team. If Trump were to make such a move, he would have to order Rosenstein to fire Mueller.
"There's some real conflicts", Ruddy said. Additional questions have arisen about whether this curious and seemingly devious means of putting the contents of the notes in the public domain (leaking, in other words) was designed specifically to bring about the appointment of a special counsel outside the president's direct reach - and, indeed, whether Comey wanted, expected or intended his friend Mueller to get the job. A year ago, it would have seemed inconceivable for a president to fire his FBI Director, and yet that's exactly what Trump did.
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Schiff says that if Trump fires Mueller, Congress might name its own independent counsel to investigate the case.
Jeannie Rhee, a former deputy attorney general, and Aaron Zebley, Mr Mueller's chief of staff when he was Federal Bureau of Investigation director, help round out the special counsel team that has taken up residence in a Justice Department office building in downtown Washington.
David Ignatius, a columnist with The Washington Post, cautioned that firing Mueller would be a risky move by the president.
Second, he said Congress could muck up Mueller's investigation.
Barry Bennett, a GOP strategist who served as an adviser to Trump's campaign, said he believed it would be too damaging for Trump to try to remove Mueller, but that he had concerns about the appearance that the probe was being politicized.
Trump has made it clear that he is frustrated by the United States probe of Russian interference in the presidential election, which USA intelligence officials said was done to tilt the outcome in Trump's favor.
Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment on the issues Gingrich and others have raised.
White House Deputy Spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Ruddy "speaks for himself" and not the administration.
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