Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on Tuesday that Congress would not sit by if President Donald Trump decided to fire the special counsel leading the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Schiff said such a decision would have “echoes of Watergate,” when former President Richard Nixon ordered the termination of special prosecutor Archibald Cox.
“I don’t think that Congress would sit still and allow the President to pick his own investigator,” Schiff said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Schiff said he hopes it “would be the last straw” for many Republicans in Congress who have “stayed their hand and not been willing to speak out” against Trump’s decisions.
“If you were to take this step with all its echoes of Watergate, I would hope that what Congress would immediately do would be to take up an independent counsel law,” Schiff said.
He compared the possibility to Trump’s abrupt termination of former FBI director James Comey.
“I have to think this is just the President venting, but then again I remember talking about whether I thought there was any chance that the President would fire Comey, and that didn’t seem possible either,” Schiff said.
Trump associate Chris Ruddy on Monday evening said Trump was “weighing the option” to fire former FBI director Robert Mueller, the special counsel who is overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. election.
“I think he’s considering perhaps terminating the special counsel,” Ruddy said on PBS “NewsHour.”
The White House said Ruddy “never spoke to” Trump about the subject, but did not deny that Trump is considering terminating Mueller.
On Monday, Schiff warned Trump that if he fired Mueller, “Congress would immediately re-establish independent counsel” and rehire him.
If President fired Bob Mueller, Congress would immediately re-establish independent counsel and appoint Bob Mueller. Don't waste our time.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) June 12, 2017
A handful of Republican lawmakers have urged Trump to leave well enough alone when it comes to Mueller.
“I think he should let Bob Mueller do his job, do his job independently and do his job quickly,” House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said. “I’m not going to get into hypotheticals.”
Ryan said he would “be surprised” if Trump would fire Mueller.
“It would be a disaster,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Politico.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said terminating Mueller would “certainly be an extraordinarily unwise move” on Trump’s part.
A number of prominent Trump supporters have nevertheless questioned Mueller’s impartiality and begun pushing for his dismissal.
