Trump Pondered Firing Mueller; His Aides Pushed Back

[Eugene]

Source: New York Times

Trump Pondered Firing Mueller; His Aides Pushed Back

By GLENN THRUSH, MAGGIE HABERMAN and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS JUNE 13, 2017

WASHINGTON — Last month’s appointment of Robert S. Mueller III as a special counsel to investigate possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia enraged President Trump. Yet, at least initially, he holstered his Twitter finger and publicly said nothing.

But behind the scenes, the president soon began entertaining the idea of firing Mr. Mueller even as his staff tried to discourage him from something they believed would turn a bad situation into a catastrophe, according to several people with direct knowledge of Mr. Trump’s interactions.

For now, the staff has prevailed. “While the president has every right to” fire Mr. Mueller, “he has no intention to do so,” the White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters late Tuesday after a day of speculation over Mr. Mueller’s fate.

Mr. Trump, angered by reports in Breitbart News and other conservative news media that Mr. Mueller was close to James B. Comey, the F.B.I. director he had fired, repeatedly brought up the political and legal implications of firing someone he viewed as incapable of an impartial investigation.

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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/us/politics/robert-mueller-special-counsel-trump.html

[babylonsister]

1. Just ugh. "angered by reports in Breitbart News"

He's incredibly dumb and clueless.

[secondwind]

2. Suck it up, buttercup. Your day is coming

[MiniMe]

3. Does he have the right to fire a special prosecutor?

Nixon couldn't fire Cox directly, he had to order people to do it. And most wouldn't, they quit rather than firing the prosecutor. The only one who did was Bork, and we know how that worked out for him for the future.

[unblock]

4. yeah, essentially the same. he'd keep firing people until someone fired mueller.

people would cry holy hell and the media would have a few days of "nixon redux", but he's far more likely to get away with it.

nixon faced a democratic congress that was happy to consider impeachment.
benedict donald has a republican congress that thinks impeachment of their own party leader is brand suicide.

note that impeachment has never been seriously considered by the a congress of the same party as the president.
andrew johnson, richard nixon, and bill clinton all faced opposition congresses.

[asiliveandbreathe]

5. Didn't Rosenstein say he wouldn't fire Mueller without good cause??

Me thinks Rosenstein is looking at being fired....you do not go against this gangster in chief without facing repercussions....heads up....

[Thinkingabout]

6. He has access to intelligence briefings yet he chooses to read Breitbart and Drudge, WTH.