‘It’d be the end of his presidency,’ Graham says of Trump firing Mueller
If President Donald Trump fired special counsel Robert Mueller, it would be the end of his presidency – and “everybody in the White House” knows it, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday.
“I see no evidence that President Trump wants to fire Mr. Mueller now,” Graham, R-South Carolina, said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
“I don’t know what happened back last year, but it’s pretty clear to me that everybody in the White House knows it’d be the end of President Trump’s presidency if he fired Mr. Mueller,” Graham said.
On the report that President Trump tried to fire Robert Mueller, Sen @LindseyGrahamSC tells @MarthaRaddatz, “we’re not going to say it’s fake news and move on.” #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/2VM5TmXpwe
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 28, 2018
Graham’s comments came after a New York Times report this week that said Trump, in June 2017, moved to fire Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, including possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia.
The Associated Press reported that Trump backed off after the White House attorney whom he instructed to fire Mueller, threatened to quit if Trump pressed the issue.
“I think Mr. Mueller is the prefect guy to get to the bottom of all of this, and he will,” Graham said. “And I think my job among others is to give him the space to do it, and I intend to do that.”
Graham added that he has legislation designed to protect Mueller and his investigation, and that Mueller “should look at” whether Trump wanted to fire him.
“We’re not gonna just say it’s fake news and move on,” he said. “We know that he didn’t fire Mr. Mueller. We know that if he tried to, it’d be the end of his presidency.”
This story was originally published January 28, 2018 at 12:46 PM with the headline "‘It’d be the end of his presidency,’ Graham says of Trump firing Mueller."