This is not a drill
Donald Trump, haunted that potential collusion between his campaign and the Kremlin and related financial shenanigans are now under the microscope of investigative professionals, is signaling that he is prepared to do anything in his power to sidestep scrutiny.
He mused that he made a mistake appointing Jeff Sessions as attorney general — all because Sessions, who had an indisputable conflict, recused himself from overseeing the Russia investigation.
He has floated firing Robert Mueller, the universally respected special counsel tapped by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
His aides are delving into the backgrounds of Mueller’s investigators seeking conflicts of interest to discredit the investigation or force recusals.
Trump has even begun asking staffers about the power of the pardon, as he presumably considers preemptively exonerating aides or family members in what the President continues, as evidence mounts, to weakly insist is a witch hunt.
The floating of so many combustible trial balloons demands a stern and preemptive rebuke from the supposedly coequal body of government — the U.S. Congress — to leave no doubt that if the President kneecaps Mueller as he pursues the truth, there will be severe consequences.
For starters, members of Congress must communicate clearly — right away — that, in the event Trump abuses his authority by removing Mueller, they will pass a law immediately reinstating him.
And will even seriously entertain the possibility of impeachment.
So far, the Republicans who control the House and Senate have answered such “what ifs” with whimpers.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, whose body would be the one to initiate impeachment, has not managed to draw a single line in the sand. Nor has Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio called the prospect of a Mueller termination “a mistake” but would not elaborate on consequences.
Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy dismissed the possibility as “a hypothetical.”
North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr, chair of the Senate’s Intelligence Committee, said “I don’t think the President can fire Bob Mueller”; only Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein can.
That’s a charitable interpretation. Trump — the last President to respect niceties or norms — could quite possibly demand Rosenstein can the man he appointed, on the ground that Mueller is overstepping his delineated authority; if Rosenstein agrees, the deed will be done.
Or he could try to fire Mueller directly, setting off a battle in the courts, with nothing less than the U.S. constitutional system hanging in the balance.
As for pardons, the President’s power, at least with respect to federal crimes, is broad. It can even be exercised before an individual has been convicted of or even charged with a particular crime.
If members of his own political party with the power to impeach do not send strong signals that pardons, while legal, are an unacceptable tool for the President to use to pry himself out of this particular box, they are aiding and abetting the President.