Trump has no intention to fire Robert Mueller: White House
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has “no intention” of firing special counsel Robert Mueller who is investigating the alleged Russian meddling in last year’s US presidential polls, the White House has said.
The White House clarification has come amidst reports that Trump is contemplating firing Mueller. “While the president has the right to, he has no intention to do so,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters abroad Air Force One flying back from Wisconsin to Washington DC.
In a major story, The New York Times claimed that Trump was angered by reports that Mueller was close to fired FBI Director James Comey and entertained the idea of firing the special counsel.
“In recent days, the president has told his staff, his visi- tors, and his outside advisers that he was increasingly convinced Mueller, like Comey, his successor as director of the FBI, was part of a “witch hunt” by partisans who wanted to see him weakened or forced from office,” the daily said.
Trump has made no decision to act against Mueller and insists that he knows the risks of doing so but people close to the president say Trump is so volatile they cannot be sure that he will not change his mind if he finds out anything to lead him to believe the investigation has been compromised, The New York Times said.
Several lawmakers came out in support of Mueller.
Congressman Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, said he has “confidence” in Mueller. “The best advice would be to let Robert Mueller do his job,” he told reporters. SACRAMENTO: California Gov Jerry Brown has been named as a special envoy to states at the next United Nations Climate Change Conference, further elevating his international profile as a leader on the issue as President Donald Trump backs away from a key international agreement.
The announcement of Brown’s role at the November conference in Bonn, Germany, by Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama comes on the heels of the governor’s meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and German Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks to discuss climate change.
“I will lean on Gov Brown to continue to bring the great leadership he has demonstrated time and time again, and to mobilize a strong contingent of like-minded leaders from around the world, to show the world that we mean business,” Bainimarama said during a news conference at the historic governor’s mansion in Sacramento.
The four-term governor has made reducing greenhouse gas emissions and boosting green technology a key tenet of his administration.
He’s launched non-binding climate change pacts, including the newly formed US Climate Alliance of states committed to upholding the carbon reductions goals in the Paris climate agreement, from which Trump plans to withdraw.