WASHINGTON (AP) โ High-profile supporters of President Donald Trump are turning on special counsel Robert Mueller, the man charged with investigating Russian interference in the U.S. election and possible collusion with Trumpโs campaign.
As Mueller builds his legal team, Trumpโs allies have begun raising questions about the former FBI directorโs impartiality, suggesting he cannot be trusted to lead the probe. The comments come amid increasing frustration at the White House and among Trump supporters that the investigation will overshadow the presidentโs agenda for months to come โ a prospect that has Democrats salivating.
Trump cannot directly dismiss Mueller. That decision would fall to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who testified Tuesday in a Senate budget hearing that he would only fire Mueller for good cause and has seen no evidence of that.
Still, Chris Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax and a Trump friend, suggested the president was already thinking about โterminatingโ Mueller from his position as special counsel.
โI think heโs weighing that option,โ Ruddy said in an interview Monday with Judy Woodruff of โPBS NewsHour.โ
House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters Tuesday any talk about Trump wanting to rid himself of the special investigator amounts to โrumor.โ
Yet itโs a line of thinking that is making its way to the presidentโs ears.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Tuesday that Trump called him Monday night because of Gingrichโs concerns about the Russia probe.
He called because โI have been very clearโ about Mueller and the lawyers heโs hired amounting to a โrigged game,โ Gingrich said in an interview Tuesday on CBS.
โItโs a mistake to pretend that this is going to be some neutral investigation,โ Gingrich said.
Even so, Gingrich said, Trump wonโt seek to dismiss Mueller because heโs confident the probe will conclude heโs done nothing wrong.
Rosenstein is charged with Muellerโs fate because Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from all matters having to do with the Trump-Russia investigation. Sessions made that choice because of his own conversations with Russian officials during the Trump transition โ a potential part of the probe.
Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee, said any move to oust Mueller would โbe the last strawโ for many in Congress and would have โechoes of Watergate,โ when President Richard Nixon dismissed special prosecutor Archibald Cox over Coxโs subpoenas for White House tapes.
Schiff told MSNBCโs โMorning Joeโ on Tuesday that โI donโt think the Congress would sit still and allow the president to pick his own investigator.โ
Just weeks ago, Gingrich had heaped praise on Mueller, hailing him as a โsuperb choiceโ for special counsel whose reputation was โimpeccable for honesty and integrity.โ
But after the testimony of former FBI Director James Comey last week, Gingrich said heโd changed his mind. Gingrich said he is troubled by Democratic donations of Muellerโs picks to help lead the probe.
Conservative commentator Ann Coulter offered a similar message, tweeting, โNow that we know TRUMP IS NOT UNDER INVESTIGATION, Sessions should take it back & fire Mueller.โ
The new talk about dismissing Mueller appeared to be coming from Trump allies โ including some close to White House strategist Steve Bannon โ who are increasingly frustrated with the prospect of a long and winding probe.
They say Trump did not collude with Russia and see the investigation as a politically motivated sham that handicaps Trumpโs ability to execute his agenda, according to one person who advises the White House on how to handle the probe. The person demanded anonymity to discuss strategy on the sensitive matter.
Ruddy appeared to be basing his remarks, at least in part, on comments from Jay Sekulow, a member of Trumpโs legal team, who told ABC in an interview Sunday that he was โnot going to speculateโ on whether Trump might at some point order Rosenstein to fire Mueller.
โLook, the president of the United States, as we all know, is a unitary executive. But the president is going to seek the advice of his counsel and inside the government as well as outside. And Iโm not going to speculate on what he will or will not do,โ Sekulow said. Still, he added, โI canโt imagine that that issue is going to arise.โ
It wasnโt clear whether Ruddy, who speaks with the president often, was basing his remarks on a specific conversation with the president or entirely on Sekulowโs comments. Ruddy did not immediately respond to questions seeking clarification.
Ruddy was at the White House Monday to meet with White House aides, but did not speak with the president, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said. โMr. Ruddy never spoke to the president regarding this issue,โ Spicer said. โWith respect to this subject, only the president or his attorneys are authorized to comment.โ
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said via email, โChris speaks for himself.โ
Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment on Ruddyโs remarks.
