Trump denies report he tried to fire Mueller
300,000 PLEDGE TO MARCH IF PRESIDENT FIRES SPECIAL COUNSEL
US President Donald Trump yesterday denied a newspaper report that he had planned to fire US Special Counsel Robert Mueller late last year.
Mueller has been tasked with investigating allegations of Russian meddling in 2016 US presidential election. US intelligence agencies concluded that such interference took place, but Moscow denies it.
Mueller is also investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, which Trump has denied.
Trump has repeatedly attacked the special counsel investigation, and on Wednesday he blamed it for Washington’s frosty relationship with Moscow. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that he had tried to fire Mueller in December.
Trump bluster
Trump denied that report yesterday. “If I wanted to fire Robert Mueller in December, as reported by the Failing New York Times, I would have fired him,” he said on Twitter.
A bipartisan group of senators put forward legislation on Wednesday to protect Mueller and his investigation, which the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider next week.
More than 300,000 people have pledged to attend “rapid response” protests across the US, should Trump fire Mueller.
The activist website Move On said it had more than 800 “emergency” rallies around the country prepared.
Activists would spring into action within hours, Move On said, marching in cities and towns in each of the 50 states. The mass protest would also be triggered if Trump moved to replace the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein — which could clear a path for Mueller to be fired — or if Trump pardoned key witnesses in the Russia investigation.
As Trump has stepped up his criticism of the special counsel in recent weeks, Move On said people had flooded to its website to sign up for rapid response rallies.
Since 17 March, when Trump publicly criticised Mueller for the first time, more than 100,000 have pledged to attend events. Move On launched the sign-up section of its website in August 2017, and is being supported by a slew of activist organisations including Indivisible and Women’s March.
‘Explosion of interest’
“We’ve seen another explosion of interest in these events over the last few weeks, reflecting the heightened threat that Trump may actually move to end the investigations,” said David Sievers, campaign director at Move On.
When Trump mused on Monday — after an FBI team had raided the offices of his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen — that “many people” had told him he should fire Mueller, it sparked another surge of sign-ups. More than 20,000 people signed up in the two following days alone.
Move On set out how the emergency rallies would take place in a detailed plan on its website.
If Trump moved to fire Mueller before 2pm local time activists would spring into action at 5pm that same day. If the president dismissed Muller later than that protests would begin at midday the day after.