President Donald Trump on Wednesday attempted to smooth public fears that he is going to fire special counsel Robert Mueller as well as Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in order to shut down the Russia probe. Although Trump did not rule out the possibility, he emphasized that they are still here.
“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 during a joint press conference with the prime minister of Japan.
However, the President expressed a desire to end the Russia investigation, which he called a “very bad thing for our country.”
“So we want to get the investigation over with, done with, put it behind us,” he said, reiterating his denial of the accusations that his campaign colluded with Moscow’s effort to interfere in the 2016 elections.
“They won’t find any collusion, it doesn’t exist,” the President said.
Last week, FBI agents raided the office, residence, hotel room and safety deposit box of the President’s personal attorney Michael Cohen. The attorney has become the focus of Mueller’s as a result of his central role in negotiating payouts to a porn star and a Playboy playmate who claim they had affairs with Trump, allegations which his representatives have denied.
Meanwhile, Trump’s close allies expressed worry about the raid, saying it could give the President serious problems.
According to CNN, Cohen has been at Trump’s side for a decade and is said to have recordings of sensitive conversations about his dealings in Trump’s orbit. The raid sparked the speculation that Trump plans to fire Mueller or Rosenstein, the Justice Department official responsible for overseeing the probe.
Legal experts say because Trump cannot directly fire Mueller he has to first let go of Rosenstein in order to end the probe. Rosenstein, a Republican that Trump appointed to the Justice Department, is accusing both Mueller and Rosenstein of having conflicts of interest that make it impossible for them to lead the probe.
Republican lawmakers have urged Trump not to fire either official, saying that it could lead to a constitutional crisis that could end in impeachment.
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