By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
And so begins the inevitable partisan attacks on Robert Mueller, the former FBI director who has earned near unanimous praise for his integrity and fairness as the bureau’s top boss.
As Mueller begins to build his team to investigate allegations of collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s political team to undermine the 2016 election, the president’s conservative allies are digging in to discredit Mueller, who was appointed as special counsel by Trump’s own Justice Department.
And on Monday, a close friend of Trump’s said the president is considering firing Mueller, a move that echoes Richard Nixon ordering the termination of the special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal.
Rep. Adam Schiff, of California, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, warned Trump that dismissing Mueller would ultimately be futile, saying “Don’t waste your time.“
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
Trump, who has called the appointment of Mueller “a witch hunt,” has yet to publicly attack the credibility of the special counsel. But his allies have.
On Twitter, Newt Gingrich, an informal adviser to Trump, called the appointment of a special counsel “nonsense,” suggesting it’s “delusional” to believe Mueller would be fair, less than a month after praising the appointment as “a superb choice.”
Republicans are delusional if they think the special counsel is going to be fair. Look who he is hiring.check fec reports. Time to rethink.
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) June 12, 2017
Conservative commentator Ann Coulter said there’s no reason to keep Mueller because Comey confirmed that Trump wasn’t under investigation, while radio host Mark Levin wrote on Facebook that “Mueller must step aside.”
When Mueller was appointed special counsel last month, Democrats and Republicans praised the decision.
