Schumer: Democrats might tie spending bill to protection for Mueller

GOP’s McConnell insists probe is not threatened

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Sunday that Democrats might tie their support for the next spending bill to legislation protecting special counsel Robert Mueller – although he stopped short of saying he would be willing to risk a shutdown.

The New York Democrat fears that President Donald Trump’s choice of Matthew Whitaker to head the Justice Department could threaten Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling and potential ties to the Trump campaign. Trump named Whitaker as the interim attorney general after Jeff Sessions’ ouster last week.

“The appointment of Mr. Whitaker should concern every American – Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative – who believes in rule of law and justice,” Schumer said during an interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “He has already prejudged the Mueller situation. If he stays there, he will create a constitutional crisis by inhibiting Mueller or firing Mueller, so Congress has to act.”

Schumer cited Whitaker’s public comments that he does not believe Russia interfered in the 2016 election and that the funding to Mueller’s probe could be cut as examples of why Whitaker should not be in charge of the special counsel’s investigation.

He said Democratic leaders in the House and Senate plan to send a letter to the chief ethics officer of the Justice Department asking for an opinion on whether Whitaker should recuse himself from the investigation.

If Whitaker does not recuse, Schumer said Democrats in both houses of Congress will “attempt to add to mustpass legislation, in this case the spending bill, legislation that would prevent Mr. Whitaker from interfering with the Mueller investigation.”

Show host Jake Tapper pointed out that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has indicated he wouldn’t support legislation to protect Mueller. Tapper asked Schumer whether Democrats would risk a shutdown and refuse to sign a spending bill that didn’t include protection for Mueller.

“Look, I believe there will be enough of our Republican colleagues who will join us. There’s no reason we shouldn’t add this and avoid a constitutional crisis,” Schumer replied. If Republican support failed to materialize, “We’ll see what happens down the road,” he said.

He noted that McConnell said he didn’t think such legislation was necessary before Sessions was fired because there was no concern that Mueller’s investigation would be interfered with when Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was overseeing it.

But McConnell repeated his position on Friday that legislation to protect Mueller would not be brought to the full Senate for a vote after outgoing Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake called for such a bill.

“The Mueller investigation is not under threat. The president has said repeatedly he’s not going to dismiss the Mueller investigation,” McConnell said. He added that the president had the authority to appoint Whitaker, whom he expected to be a “very interim” attorney general.

Rep. Adam Schiff, who will likely become chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday on “Meet the Press” the case for Whitaker’s recusal from the Mueller probe is “very strong.”

And the California Democrat warned Whitaker that “if he has any involvement whatsoever in this Russia probe, we are going to find out, whether he made commitments to the president about the probe, whether he is serving as a back channel to the president or his lawyers about the probe, whether he’s doing anything to interfere with the probe.”