Sen. Warner on Mueller: No firing, no pardons
No one is above the law. Not even a president.
In 2016, Russia used the weapons of information warfare to attack the United States. The Kremlin’s goal: to undermine our democracy and weaken the United States and our Western democratic allies.
This is not the opinion of one senator, or of one political party. It is the unanimous conclusion of our nation’s intelligence community.
With his most recent indictment of 13 Russian operatives and three Russian companies, special counsel Robert Mueller further illuminated the depths of Russia’s information warfare campaign against the United States. Last month’s filing followed indictments and/or guilty pleas from several of President Trump’s onetime associates. Yet despite this effort to expose our Russian enemies and bring them to justice, Mueller now sits squarely in the crosshairs of Trump and his allies.
Our nation came close to an extraordinary abuse of presidential power when it was revealed this year that Trump ordered Mueller’s firing last June, before backing off. The president’s own lawyer, John Dowd, resurfaced this dangerous prospect Saturday when he called for the Mueller investigation to be shut down. Trump quickly made clear he agrees. “The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime,” the president tweeted the same day. On Sunday, he branded it partisan and unfair.
Unfortunately, these are only the latest chapters in a seemingly coordinated effort to undermine not only Mueller, but also the career law enforcement and intelligence professionals investigating Russia’s election interference.
It began more than a year ago with the president himself attacking the integrity of career law enforcement professionals and repeating the false claim that the FBI wiretapped Trump Tower. It continued with the president’s sudden firing of FBI Director James Comey. More recently, his allies attempted to exploit the private political opinions of an FBI agent last year as evidence of Democratic bias in the investigation. Then, Trump allies in the House touted a memo alleging abuses of power during the counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign, and refused to back off even after it was clear the memo had weaved cherry-picked facts into a deliberately false narrative.
From Comey to former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, Trump has demonstrated a willingness to attack any career law enforcement official he believes may pose a threat to him.
These efforts to discredit and dismantle a federal investigation dealing with the president’s campaign echo dark times in our history. This campaign of innuendo and misinformation should alarm us all, Republican and Democrat alike. Amplified by retweets and cable news punditry, these flimsy attacks nevertheless undermine public trust in law enforcement and, consequently, the rule of law. The apparent willingness of the president and his allies to accept this outcome — despite its enormous costs to our democracy — is deeply disturbing.
Mueller is a Vietnam War veteran and a lifelong Republican, with impeccable credentials as a man of the law. His team includes some of the nation’s best investigators and prosecutors, and he has led this important investigation with the professionalism it requires.
Russia attacked us right here at home with cyber raids and a disinformation campaign aimed at undermining our democratic process. Ignoring and politicizing this ongoing national security threat won’t make it go away. That’s why we must draw a red line. Passing legislation to protect the Mueller probe is a necessary start, but our nation’s elected officials must also summon the courage to challenge those in our ranks who would put partisan politics over truth, or who would put the president’s interests over the interests of justice.
Congress must make clear to the president that firing the special counsel, or interfering with his investigation by pardoning essential witnesses, is unacceptable and would have immediate and significant consequences.
In America, no one is above the law. Not even the president.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.