GOP leaders talk to Trump via TV

Tactic aims to prevent Mueller from being fired

WASHINGTON — Trying to persuade President Donald Trump to back down from his increasingly public battle with special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, Republican leaders turned Tuesday to the approach that has worked for Fox network personalities: They talked to him through the television screen.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stepped up to microphones in the Capitol to try to dissuade Trump from firing Mueller, a move most Republicans here believe would be catastrophic for his presidency.

They did so with the tactics they have used since Trump’s presidency began: light on criticism of the president, but heavy on positive reinforcement of the behavior they want to see him follow.

“The special counsel should be free to follow through with his investigation to its completion without interference, absolutely,” Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters Tuesday morning. “I am confident he will be able to do that. I received assurances that his firing is not even under consideration. We have a system based on the rule of law in this country. We have a justice system, and no one is above that justice system.”

Asked who had given him those assurances, Ryan replied: “Oh, I’m not going to get into that.”

The suggestion was that it was Trump’s lawyers, who publicly insisted after the president maligned Mueller over the weekend that Trump was not considering firing the man leading the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. McConnell, R-Ky., directly cited the lawyers’ comments as proof that Trump did not plan to lean on his Justice Department to fire Mueller.

“I heard the president’s lawyers say that Bob Mueller should be allowed to finish his job,” McConnell said to television cameras. He went on to praise Mueller, a former FBI director with broad bipartisan support. “I think he will … have great credibility with the American people when he reaches the conclusion of this investigation.”

McConnell said that, given the lawyers’ assertions, legislation protecting Mueller was not “necessary.”

“I don’t think Bob Mueller is going anywhere,” he said. “It’s a widespread feeling, and the president’s lawyers obviously agree, that he ought to be able to finish the job. He’s a thoroughly credible individual and I think an appropriate appointment.”

The possibility that the president might make a move against Mueller stemmed from two weekend developments. The first was Trump’s decision to tweet criticism of Mueller’s effort using the special counsel’s name, which he had avoided before.

One of his lawyers, John Dowd, also raised the prospect of the end of the special counsel investigation.