President Trump and special counsel Robert Mueller. (Photos by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
The president’s weekend tweet-storm intensified warnings that he could be moving closer to firing the special counsel.
By Jake Johnson / 03.18.2018
Just days after news broke that special counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed the Trump Organization for documents related to his Russia probe, President Donald Trump lashed out at Mueller directly for the first time in a series of tweets on Saturday and then again on Sunday, claiming that his investigative team is filled with “hardened Democrats.”
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
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
Trump’s tweets late Saturday came just hours after John Dowd, his personal attorney, called on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to kill Mueller’s probe. As The Daily Beast reported, Dowd initially claimed to be speaking on behalf of Trump, but he later walked this back, saying he was speaking only for himself.
The combination of the Friday-night firing of former Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe and Trump’s Twitter rage throughout the weekend has rapidly elevated fears that the president could be moving closer to firing the special counsel, a move analysts and advocacy groups say would spark a constitutional crisis.
In an email to supporters on Sunday, March for Truth—an organization that is working with dozens of advocacy groups to organize rapid response protests in the event that Trump does fire Mueller—warned: “We are at the highest level of alert in months.”
“We’re partnering with MoveOn.org, Public Citizen, Indivisible and many others to prepare emergency ‘Nobody is Above the Law‘ rallies that will happen directly following the firing of the special counsel should it occur,” the group noted. “There are already events in 800+ cities and communities scheduled across the country—more than 300,000 people are prepared to take to the streets!”
“By firing Mueller, the president would trigger a full-fledged constitutional crisis by asserting that he is above the law. The hours following the firing will determine whether he is proved right,” the email concluded.
A Google maps image of the protests planned nationwide in preparation for the possible firing of Mueller provides a look a how truly massive the demonstrations would be. Click the image to find an event near you.
Originally published by Common Dreams under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license.