The White House on Monday doubled down on its stance that it is not planning to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, despite tweets from President Trump indicating his frustration with Mueller and the Russia probe.
“There are no conversations or discussions about removing Mr. Mueller,” spokesperson Hogan Gidley told reporters onboard Air Force One on Monday.
Gidley reiterated that Trump believes Mueller’s probe into his campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 election is the “biggest witch hunt in history” and added that Trump has a “well established frustration” with the investigation.
The comments follow Trump’s own tweets over the weekend, when he expressed frustration with Mueller and the apparent political affiliations of some of the members of his investigative team. Trump reportedly has also found himself more emboldened in recent weeks to make his own decisions and has ignored the advice of his closest advisers, according to The New York Times.
Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added…does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018
The Sunday morning tweet was the first time that Trump has called out Mueller by name on Twitter, ignoring advice from his allies and administration officials who have suggested he let the investigation run its course. Trump has been vocal since he entered the Oval Office that he believes the probe is a partisan hoax.
