Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal showed his concerns in a report in The New York Times, saying that President Donald Trump attempted to fire special counsel Robert Mueller last year in June. Blumenthal demanded that the Senate should pass bills that will protect the special counsel.
Senator Blumenthal, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee on a tweet he wrote Thursday night said that Trump’s alleged attempt to fire Mueller is “stunning” and “deeply scary.”
“Stunning, deeply scary Trump move to fire Mueller raises need for Special Counsel protection bill immediately. Judiciary Committee must approve and Congress must pass.”
The senator’s comments come after it was reported that President Donald Trump made an attempt to fire special counsel Robert Mueller last summer but did not succeed after counsel Don McGahn threatened to resign. Reportedly, four people with knowledge of the development testified that Trump ordered Mueller to be fired last June.
McGahn refused to obey the president and threatened to resign, explaining that Trump’s order would only contribute to more speculation that the president was obstructing the investigation in Russia’s meddling in the elections.
According to The Hill, Blumenthal was an early supporter last year of a bipartisan bill from Democratic Senators. Cory Booker and Lindsey Graham that would require a judge to approve a Justice Department request to fire Mueller or any other special counsel. Any appeal of the decision would go to the Supreme Court.
“Our bill allows judicial review of any decision to terminate a special counsel to make sure it’s done for the reasons cited in the regulation rather than political motivation. I think this will serve the country well,” Graham said in a statement mid-2016.
However, of all proposed bills whose purpose is to protect Mueller from being fired, none have managed to make it to the Senate floor to be voted.
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