Republican senators warned President Donald Trump on Sunday, 18 March, not to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and said the president must let federal investigators looking into Russian meddling in the US election do their jobs.
The Republican president has renewed his Twitter attacks on both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Mueller’s probe since the firing of the bureau’s former deputy director, Andrew McCabe, on Friday, 16 March, two days before he was eligible to retire with a full pension.
Republican Senator Jeff Flake, who has criticised Trump harshly, said the president's latest comments appeared to be aimed at the firing of Mueller. Senator Lindsey Graham, another Republican, said if Trump were to dismiss Mueller, it would mark "the beginning of the end of his presidency."
AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Republican House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, said: "As the speaker has always said, Mr Mueller and his team should be able to do their job."
In an effort to tamp down the chatter, White House lawyer Ty Cobb issued a statement on the night of 18 March saying that Trump was not weighing Mueller's removal.
In response to media speculation and related questions being posed to the Administration, the White House yet again confirms that the President is not considering or discussing the firing of the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller.Ty Cobb, lawyer, White House
The Republican comments underscored the risks for Trump if he goes too far to thwart the federal probe.
In a series of tweets over the weekend, Trump accused the FBI leadership of lies, corruption and leaking information. He called the Russia probe a politically motivated witch hunt.
‘If Trump Is Innocent, His Lawyer Should at Least Act Like it’
"I don't know what the designs are on Mueller, but it seems to be building toward that (firing him), and I just hope it doesn't go there, because it can't. We can't in Congress accept that," Flake said on CNN's ‘State of the Union.’
"So I would expect to see considerable pushback in the next couple of days urging the president not to go there."
On Saturday, Trump's personal lawyer John Dowd urged the Justice Department official overseeing Mueller, Rod Rosenstein, to "bring an end to alleged Russia Collusion investigation manufactured by McCabe's boss James Comey."
Republican US Representative Trey Gowdy criticised Dowd in an interview with ‘Fox News Sunday.’
“I think the president’s attorney, frankly, does him a disservice when he says that and when he frames the investigation that way,” Gowdy said. “If you have an innocent client, Mr Dowd, act like it.”
(This article has been edited for length)
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