Democrats warn Trump against firing Mueller

WASHINGTON - Reuters

The top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, responding to escalating Republican attacks on Special Counsel Robert Mueller, said on Dec. 20 that if President Donald Trump fires Mueller, it “has the potential to provoke a constitutional crisis.”

Speaking on the Senate floor, Senator Mark Warner denounced attacks on Mueller’s impartiality and said the special counsel’s investigation of ties between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia must be “able to go on unimpeded.”

Russia denies meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and Trump has denied any collusion.

While Trump’s political allies have increased their criticism of Mueller, the president said on Dec. 17 he was not considering firing him.

Republican lawmakers have seized on anti-Trump texts by a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who was involved in the Russia investigation as evidence of bias in Mueller’s team. Mueller removed the agent from his team after the texts came to light.

Republicans on several House of Representatives committees have also announced their own probes into long-standing political grievances, including the FBI’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. Clinton, a Democrat, was Trump’s opponent in last year’s election.