Republicans That Want Mueller to Continue
Concern over whether the president will fire Robert Mueller is a running subplot to the special counsel's 11-month investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Although most legal experts contend that only Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has the authority to fire Mueller, the White House doesn't see it that way. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday that Trump "certainly believes he has the power" to fire the special counsel. It's a murky issue, to say the least.
Most Republican Senators have scoffed at the idea that Trump would even consider terminating Mueller, but it's becoming harder and harder to dismiss it as impossible, or even unlikely. Politico reported that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley will allow a vote on a new bipartisan bill to protect Mueller from the president's wrath. A handful of Senate Republicans have said they would support such legislation, but most still feel confident that our impulsive, unpredictable president with a demonstrated lack of respect for traditional political norms would never do such a thing.
Here's where every Senate Republican stands on the issue:
Richard Shelby (Alabama)
Shelby hasn't said much about the Mueller investigation, but seems to believe that he should be allowed to complete it as he sees fit. "My basic philosophy is, once you have an independent counsel, you ought to give him a chance to follow the facts," he told the Washington Post last year. "If somebody's doing a job, you don't want to cut it off."
Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)
Murkowski has expressed support for Mueller's appointment as special counsel, and this week joined other Senate Republicans who said that they would support legislation to prevent the president from firing him. "It's certainly something I would be looking at, yeah," she said.
Dan Sullivan (Alaska)
Sullivan said in December that he doesn't think the president should fire Mueller, but doesn't seem to think there's any need for legislation. "I don't see any serious indication that that's going to happen, a firing," he said this week. "So I get where my colleagues are coming from, and I understand their concerns, but I'm not sure that kind of legislation is going to move."
Jeff Flake (Arizona)
Flake is one of Trump's most vocal critics in the Senate, and he's also the only senator to promise to actually take action should Trump fire Mueller. "I mean, talking to my colleagues all along it was, you know, once he goes after Mueller, then we'll take action," he said in March.
Flake has also said that he would support legislation to protect Mueller, but has questioned whether a potential bill would be constitutional. "I've had my legal beagles look at this six ways to Sunday to try to find a way that you could [circumvent the president's constitutional power]." he said. If he is able to determine the bill would be able to stand up to the courts, he'd "gladly sign on."
John McCain (Arizona)
In March, McCain praised Mueller and said he should not be interfered with as investigates the Trump campaign.
John Boozman (Arkansas)
Boozman has stayed mostly silent on the Mueller investigation, but he did support the appointment last May. "Director Mueller is a person that is so widely respected by virtually everyone, and so the idea of him coming in and investigating, getting to the bottom of all this, getting to the truth, is really what it's all about," he said. "He's perfect, very, very capable, in doing that."
Tom Cotton (Arkansas)
Cotton hasn't said much either, only noting that he doesn't think legislation is realistic. "I don't see them going very far," Cotton said in August of the two bipartisan bills that would restrict the president's ability to get rid of Mueller.
Cory Gardner (Colorado)
"We should allow Director Mueller to continue to do his job," Gardner told Mother Jones in December. Recently, he employed a fiery metaphor in warning Trump about removing the special counsel. "If you want to see what touching the sun feels like, then get rid of Bob Mueller," he said.
Marco Rubio (Florida)
Rubio seems to have faith Mueller is conducting the investigation with integrity, saying in March that he is "confident that the special counsel is going to conduct a probe that is fair and thorough and is going to arrive at the truth and is not going to go down rabbit holes that are not places that we need to be going."
Then again, he also said that the probe "should never have been started."
Johnny Isakson (Georgia)
Isakson has been mostly silent about the investigation but told the Huffington Post in October that Mueller was "appointed for a purpose" and that he should be able to "carry that purpose out, and let the evidence take us where it may."
David Perdue (Georgia)
Perdue isn't a huge fan of the investigation. "It's time to get this investigation over," he said when asked about the probe this week. "This thing is spiraling out of control."
Mike Crapo (Idaho)
Crapo has said close to nothing about the Mueller investigation, although last year noted in a statement that the investigation needed to be conducted "appropriately" and that "it would be premature for him to speculate on the matter further."
Jim Risch (Idaho)
Risch, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, hasn't directly commented on the Mueller investigation.
Todd Young (Indiana)
Young has abstained from discussing the Mueller investigation.
Joni Ernst (Iowa)
"I don't think he would do that," Ernst said. "There's always a possibility. He has that prerogative, but so far he's declined to do so and I think it's in his best interest if he does not." Because of her confidence that the president would not fire Mueller, she has said that she doesn't feel legislation is necessary.
Chuck Grassley (Iowa)
The Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman offered one of the sternest warnings we've heard from the right. "I think it would be suicide for the president to fire him," he said. "I think the less the president says about this whole thing, the better off he will be. And I think Mueller is a person of stature and respected and I respect him."
Grassley doesn't seem as comfortable that the president knows better than to fire Mueller now than he did in March, when the president first called out Mueller by name on Twitter. "I just don't think the president—as unpredictable as he is—would fire Mueller, and I take the view, and I said so maybe not directly to the president, but indirectly to the president: Just let this work its course," he told CNN at the time.
On Wednesday, Politico reported that Grassley will allow the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote on a bipartisan bill that would protect Mueller from Trump.
Jerry Moran (Kansas)
Moran said this week that he would consider supporting legislation that would protect Mueller, according to Politico.
Pat Roberts (Kansas)
"I would hope it's not needed," Roberts said in reference to legislation to protect Mueller. "Any move in either direction is probably the wrong move. Stay the course until we finish it."
Mitch McConnell (Kentucky)
The most powerful man in the Senate has expressed tepid support for Mueller while maintaining that there is no need for protections. "I haven't seen clear indication yet that we needed to pass something to keep him from being removed, because I don't think that's going to happen," McConnell told reporters Tuesday. "And that remains my view, that I don't think he's going to be removed from this office."
"I think he'll be allowed to finish his job," he told CNN.
Rand Paul (Kentucky)
Paul's opposes the idea of a special counsel altogether. "I've said all along I don't like special prosecutors," he said in March. "I think they have too much power and too much power to go far afield of the question."
But when pressed about whether he felt the same way about Ken Starr's investigation of Bill Clinton, he admitted he "may not have been as consistent back then."
Bill Cassidy (Louisiana)
Cassidy hasn't spoken much about Mueller, but he didn't seem to be a very big fan of the investigation in December. "Clearly there's people on his team who had a political axe to grind against Donald Trump," he said on Fox Business. "And it's up to Mueller to step forward and restore credibility to his investigation. I am willing to give him that shot."
John Kennedy (Louisiana)
John Kennedy said this week that he thinks the president is "too smart" to fire Mueller. "I think it would provoke some sort of reaction by Congress," he told CNN. "I think he knows that."
Susan Collins (Maine)
Collins is known for being one of the more moderate Republicans in the Senate, although in March she couldn't imagine the president firing Mueller.
"I do not think that the President is going to order anyone to fire Mr. Mueller," she said. "That would be a terribly serious mistake. It's important to remember that the President cannot directly fire Mr. Mueller, only the deputy attorney general can do that under the department's regulations. And he can only do it for good cause. There is no good cause to fire Mr. Mueller."
Following the FBI raid of the office and hotel room of Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, Collins remained confident that Trump would not take steps to fire Mueller, saying that if he were to remove Attorney General Rod Rosenstein it would be "an extraordinary crisis and a real problem."
Roger Wicker (Mississippi)
Wicker reportedly declined to comment, pointed at his watch, and hurried into a meeting when asked about Trump's recent comments about the investigation.
Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi)
Hyde-Smith does not appear to have commented on the Mueller investigation, possibly because she was only sworn in on Monday.
Roy Blunt (Missouri)
"Mueller's public service has been commendable up until now," he said in December, adding that "he's a very capable guy, and I don't think you benefit by starting this process over again."
Steve Daines (Montana)
Daines hasn't said much about the investigation, but advocated for Mueller's report to be made public. "As much transparency that we can bring to this investigation, the better it would be," he said. "There's going to have to be some guardrails in place on that, where appropriate, but I think transparency generally is the right principle."
Deb Fischer (Nebraska)
Fischer hasn't commented publicly on the Muller investigation.
Ben Sasse (Nebraska)
Sasse applauded the Mueller appointment last May, and has continued to express support for the investigation. In March, he said that if Trump has "nothing to fear, he should welcome an investigation," adding that it would be a "grave mistake" and "complete disaster" were the president to fire Mueller.
Dean Heller (Nevada)
In March, Heller expressed support for the investigation. "What I want is [the] Mueller investigation to continue," he said. "I don't want this thing coming to an end."
Heller urged the president not to fire Mueller, but also said Mueller needs to wrap it up. "I want him to be thorough but I want them to get this over with," he said.
Thom Tills (North Carolina)
Tills is one of the few Republican senators who wants to pass legislation to protect Mueller, and maintained that there isn't "anything new in my opinion."
Not only has Tills pushed for legislation, last year he co-authored a bipartisan bill with Chris Coons of Delaware that would have stipulated that a special counsel can be fired only for "misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or other good cause, including violation of DOJ policies."
In September, the Senate Judiciary Committee looked at the Tills-Coons bill and a similar bipartisan proposal authored by Lindsay Graham of South Carolina and Cory Booker of New Jersey. Neither measure was able to get any traction.
Politico reported that a new version of bills will come before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"It's a good bill that's going to have enduring value beyond this presidency," Tills said. "I think the president's frustrated. I may be if I were in the same position. But I do think it's a bill that's worthy of a mark-up in Judiciary and sending it to the floor."
Richard Burr (North Carolina)
The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee isn't as concerned as his colleague from the Tar Hell State. "He'd have to fire Rosenstein first," he said. "I'm not worried."
John Hoeven (North Dakota)
Hoeven has mostly been mum on the Mueller investigation, but he did support his appointment last May, calling it a "good choice."
Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma)
Inhofe hasn't said much. When asked about the charges brought against Paul Manafort last year, the Trump loyalist brought up Hillary Clinton. "So far I haven't seen that our president was a part of it or was knowledgeable about it," he told Vox in October. "We don't know what's going to come. Apparently there are going to be more indictments. We will wait and see until more things are exposed. In the meantime, don't forget we still have all the Hillary activity."
James Lankford (Oklahoma)
Put James Lankford in the camp of senators who are confident Trump won't fire Mueller. "I don't see the president firing him," he said in March. "I think the White House has said 10 times, maybe more, that they're not going to fire Robert Mueller, they want him to be able to finish the investigation."
Rob Portman (Ohio)
"The deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, has already stated that only he can fire the special counsel and he believes there is no cause to do so," Portman's spokesman said in a statement. "Rob has said numerous times that it would be a big mistake to head down this path. He supports the efforts of the special counsel and the bipartisan work of the Senate Intelligence Committee and believes they should follow the facts wherever they lead."
Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania)
Toomey supported Mueller's appointment last May, and in December reiterated his belief in the special counsel. "I have every confidence that Robert Mueller will execute these responsibilities with integrity and professionalism," he said in a statement.
Lindsey Graham (South Carolina)
Though Graham co-authored a bipartisan bill that would offer protections for Mueller last year, he now doesn't seem to think passing legislation is necessary. "I've talked to Trump. I think he understands the consequences," he said. "I think it'd be the end of his presidency, for the political chaos."
Tim Scott (South Carolina)
On Face the Nation in April, Scott said that he doesn't know if legislation is needed to protect Mueller but that he is in support of the investigation. "I don't know that there's a single senator that would come out in favor of stopping the investigation from going forward," he said.
Mike Rounds (South Dakota)
Rounds doesn't appear to be a huge fan of the investigation. "This is almost like the dying throes where an organization that has been charged with trying to take down a president," he said in reference to the FBI's raid of Cohen's office and hotel room.
John Thune (South Dakota)
The third-ranking Republican Senator doesn't feel legislation is necessary. "I don't know that us legislating on that is the right path forward," he said, adding that he doesn't think a vote on a bill to protect Mueller could et the 60 votes required to move it through the Senate.
Lamar Alexander (Tennessee)
Alexander said that the president should be focused on policy and that "the investigation needs to continue."
Bob Corker (Tennessee)
The Senate Foreign Relations Chairman has had a rocky relationship with President Trump, and says he would support legislation to protect Mueller. In March, he suggested shoehorning it into the spending bill needed to keep the government open. "I can't possibly imagine why Senate leadership wouldn't place a protection in this [spending bill] that's coming through," he told CNN. "That would be the perfect place for them to deal with it."
Following the FBI's raid of Cohen's office, Corker reiterated his support for a measure to protect Mueller, although he doesn't seem very optimistic it will ever happen. "I would sign onto legislation that protected him, but I just don't see a lot of momentum around it," he said. "I think we'd be better off with [the president] knowing that it'd be a huge problem if he did something then unsuccessfully passing legislation."
Corker also said that "he knows most every Republican senator feels that way," in reference to the investigation continuing.
John Cornyn (Texas)
The Senate's second-ranking Republican voiced his support for Mueller and warned the president about firing him."I believe that Director Mueller has an important job to do, and I believe he can discharge that job in a professional and impartial sort of way," Cornyn said. "So my advice to anybody would let Director Mueller do his job."
Though Cornyn said there would be "serious repercussions" if Trump were to fire Mueller, in March he dismissed the idea of passing legislation to protect the special counsel. "I don't think it's necessary," he said, adding that "legislation requires a presidential signature" and that he doesn't "see the necessity of picking that fight right now."
Ted Cruz (Texas)
Cruz actually worked for Mueller at the Justice Department, but he hasn't voiced many strong opinions about the investigation. "Bob Mueller is a good and honorable man, but I certainly hope that the appointment of a special counsel doesn't turn into a fishing expedition," he said last June. When Trump first criticized Mueller by name in March, Cruz wouldn't comment, citing a rule that he doesn't talk about tweets. He busted out the fishing analogy again, though, saying he understands the concern that the investigation is becoming a "partisan fishing exercise."
Meanwhile, Beto O'Rourke, the Democrat who will challenge Cruz for his Senate seat in November, said that there is enough evidence to impeach the president.
Orrin Hatch (Utah)
The Senate's most senior Republican responded to Trump's tweet about Mueller in March by saying it would "be the stupidest thing" for the president to fire the special counsel. Like most of his colleagues, however, he didn't feel passing legislation was necessary.
On Thursday, Hatch discouraged the president's allies from encouraging him to fire Mueller.
Mike Lee (Utah)
Lee said last year that he supports the investigation. "I fully support Special Counsel Robert Mueller's continuing investigation and I'll do everything I can to make sure that the system of checks and balances, the system of separation of powers in the federal government, is upheld," he said.
Shelley Moore Capito (West Virginia)
Capito hasn't commented publicly on the Mueller investigation.
Ron Johnson (Wisconsin)
Johnson criticized the Mueller appointment in April, saying that he was appointed "far too soon" and that the Senate and House Intelligence Committees should have been allowed to complete their investigations first. When pressed about whether he believes the Mueller investigation should continued, he only reiterated that he thought the appointment was premature.
John Barrasso (Wyoming)
Barrasso hasn't comment.
Mike Enzi (Wyoming)
Neither has Enzi.
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Source: https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a19746917/mueller-investigation-senate-republicans/
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