Trump: Not planning to ax Mueller
PRESIDENT TRUMP said Sunday he’s not planning on firing special counsel Robert Mueller.
Addressing reporters after returning to the White House from Camp David, Trump said “No, I’m not,” when asked if he was considering getting rid of the former FBI chief, who has been investigating whether Russian officials colluded with Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election.
The President, who has branded Mueller’s investigation a “witch hunt,” said again Sunday there was “no collusion” between the Russians and his campaign.
His remarks come a day after it was revealed the Mueller team obtained thousands of emails by Trump transition officials.
That led a Trump lawyer, Kory Langhofer, to claim in a note to Congress that the General Services Administration wasn’t within its rights to hand the emails over.
Trump said of the email flap: “It’s not looking good. It’s quite sad to see that, my people were very upset about it.”
A spokesman for Mueller’s office denied anything was wrong with the way it obtained the emails.
“When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner’s consent or appropriate criminal process,” the spokesman, Peter Carr, said Sunday.
Other observers noted the transition emails were on a government server and were sent before Trump took office — meaning his aides have no case that privacy or executive privilege should shield them.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the topic of Mueller’s dismissal never came up when he dined the night before with Trump and Vice President Pence.
“I don’t have any reason to think the President is going to do that, but that’s obviously up to him,” Mnuchin said.
Democrats on Capitol Hill are concerned Trump is preparing to ax Mueller.
“You see a concerted effort out of the White House to undermine the investigation,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said Sunday on ABC News’ “This Week.”
“I really hope our Republican colleagues will not join in subverting that process and trying to end this investigation.”