President Donald Trump asserted he would not fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller even though he pointed out his “people” were “very upset” due to the special counsel’s decision to obtain tens of thousands of the Trump transition team’s emails.
When asked if he was considering firing Mueller, the president simply answered, “No, I’m not.”
However, he called the fact that Mueller got hold of the emails “pretty sad,” restating once again that his campaign didn’t collude with Russia.
“I can’t imagine there’s anything on (the emails), frankly, because as we said, there’s no collusion. No collusion whatsoever. But a lot of lawyers thought that was pretty sad,” Trump said.
Trump transition lawyer wrote to members of Congress accusing the special counsel’s team of obtaining unauthorized access to tens of thousands of transition emails during its Russia investigation. The lawyers claimed Mueller’s team also obtained documents protected by attorney-client privilege.
A spokesman for Mueller has denied the accusations that its access to the emails was unauthorized, CNN reports.
“When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner’s consent or appropriate criminal process,” spokesman Peter Carr said.
Democratic lawmakers, among which Representative Jackie Speier have recently expressed concerns that the president may dismiss Mueller.
“I believe that the President wants all of this shut down. He wants to shut down these investigations and he wants to fire special counsel Mueller,” she said.
Adam Schiff expressed similar concerns on Twitter, saying, “I’m increasingly worried Republicans will shut down the House Intelligence Committee investigation at the end of the month.”
Trump’s lawyer Ty Cobb also denied allegations that Mueller may be fired, saying, “As the White House has consistently said for months, there is no consideration of firing the special counsel.”
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