Lindsey Graham Repeats That Trump’s Firing Of Mueller Would Be The ‘Beginning Of End’ Of His Presidency
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has doubled-downed on his vow to protect Robert Mueller from being fired by Donald Trump. In a Sunday appearance on CNN, Lindsey Graham, a former presidential candidate, suggested that if President Trump moved to terminate the special counsel in the Russia investigation, it would signal the start of his demise in the Oval Office.
Lindsey Graham, an elder statesman who ran against Trump and a field of candidates in the past election, sat down with Jake Tapper for a State of the Union segment. Senator Graham is often viewed as the voice of reason among competing factions and is looked at largely as a lightning rod for major legislation. And while Graham has thrown his weight behind some aspects of Trump’s agenda, Graham is known to openly voice his disagreement with the president when necessary.
The South Carolina lawmaker responded to Tapper’s suggestions (as seen in the video below) that Trump’s tweets indicate that he is paving the way to fire Robert Mueller and is bolstering his claim of a “witch hunt” by pointing to McCabe’s “lack of candor,” among other reasons given for his termination. Lindsey Graham believes the two entities are mutually exclusive. He said any attempt by Trump to oust Mueller would be “catastrophic.”
“If he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency.”
Lindsey Graham called for the Senate Judiciary Committee to probe the firing of McCabe in order to show transparency in a bipartisan manner.
“I think we owe it to the average American to have a hearing in the Judiciary Committee, where Mr. Sessions, Attorney General Sessions, come forward with whatever documentation he has about the firing, and give Mr. McCabe a chance to defend himself.”
In a string of tweets Sunday, Trump said McCabe’s termination is a “great day for democracy.” The president’s frustration boiled over on Twitter as he questioned the legitimacy of the probe.
The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018
Spent very little time with Andrew McCabe, but he never took notes when he was with me. I don’t believe he made memos except to help his own agenda, probably at a later date. Same with lying James Comey. Can we call them Fake Memos?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018
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
A number of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle reiterated support for Mueller, with many saying he should have the right to carry out his investigation without threats of termination.
On #CNNSOTU @LindseyGrahamSC warns @realDonaldTrump about firing Mueller https://t.co/HkleGPak3s
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 18, 2018
Republican Senator Jeff Flake, a steadfast Donald Trump opponent, said he “has confidence” in Mueller and he hopes his colleagues will have the fortitude to push back on any efforts from the White House to end the inquiry into Russia’s attempt to affect the 2016 Elections. Like Lindsey Graham, Flake believes Congress will protect Mueller against Trump, based on the rule of law.
“I mean, talking to my colleagues all along it was, you know, once he goes after Mueller, then we’ll take action,”
Ashlee Strong, a spokesperson for Paul Ryan, released a statement in the wake of reports that Trump is laying the groundwork to fire Mueller. “As the speaker has always said, Mr. Mueller and his team should be able to do their job.”
Ben Shapiro, editor-in-chief of the Daily Wire, appeared on a segment of CNN’s Reliable Sources Sunday. During the live segment, the conservative political commentator agreed that Trump’s weekend tweets aimed at the special counsel in the Russia probe are “not normal” for a sitting U.S. president.
However, he opined that there is a wave of media attacks from factions that are focused on removing Donald Trump from office. He admonished the same attackers for ongoing efforts in accusing the GOP of being complicit in the president’s divisive rhetoric, agenda, and attacks against the FBI. He called the attacks “absolutely egregious,” according to TheBlaze.
Shapiro pointed out that commentary from the Washington Post, CNN, the New York Times, and other news outlets elicit a sense of bias which tends to undermine their reporting of the Trump administration.
“It’s hard for me to argue that the media shouldn’t be saying that the president is behaving in ‘not normal’ fashion with regards to the Russia investigation. That said, I think that because the media has been saying ‘not normal’ so often, for so long… at some point, it becomes the ‘boy who cried wolf.'”
Lindsey Graham first sounded the ominous warning in late January about any plans Trump had to fire the special counsel. Then, Graham issued a “stern message” for the New York billionaire after it came to light that Trump unsuccessfully “ordered” Mueller’s ouster over a reported conflict of interest.
“It’s pretty clear to me that everybody in the White House knows it would be the end of President Trump’s presidency if he fired Mr. Mueller.”
Trump has yet to respond to Lindsey Graham’s threats of possible congressional sanctions to any move by him to fire Robert Mueller.
