The President’s own lawyer refused to answer when he was asked if Trump would promise not to interfere with or fire special counsel Robert Mueller.
Video of Trump attorney Jay Sekulow refuses to say that Trump will promise not to fire the special counsel:
Transcript via ABC’s This Week:
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STEPHANOPOULOS: And finally, will the president promise not to interfere, not attempt at any time to order the deputy attorney general to fire Robert Mueller?
SEKULOW: Look, 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 I’m not going to speculate on what he will or will not do.
But right now the role of the president is to govern the United States of America. He’s going to do that. He’s going to leave anything else to the lawyers. But I can’t imagine that that issue is going to arise. But that again is an issue that the president with his advisers would discuss if there was a basis.
I mean, George, if there was a basis upon which there was a question raised that raised the kind of issues that are serious, as in the situation with James Comey, the president has the authority to take action. Whether he would do it is ultimately a decision the president makes.
I think that’s complete conjecture and speculation. The Constitution, it’s a unitary executive. You know that you worked for a president.
Trump’s lawyer should have answered no. The President wants this investigation to be completed, and he has confidence that the special counsel will clear him. Instead, the answer was, “The President can do anything he wants, so maybe he will fire Mueller.”
The President can’t directly fire Mueller, but there are four actions that he can take to shut down the special counsel.
The one course of action that Trump could take that would likely cause Republicans on the Hill to abandon him would be to fire the special counsel.
Given Sekulow’s answer, no one should be surprised if Robert Mueller ends up fired if he gets too close to the truth on the Russia scandal.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
