Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Friday that legislation protecting special counsel Robert Mueller was not needed because he doesn’t believe President Trump will fire the special counsel.
“It’s not necessary. The Mueller investigation is not under threat. The president said repeatedly that he’s not going to dismiss the Mueller investigation. He’s said repeatedly it’s going to be allowed to finish. That also happens to be my view,” McConnell told reporters in Kentucky.
{mosads}McConnell has said he does not believe legislation passed by the Judiciary Committee last year — which would give a special counsel an “expedited review” of their firing and allow them to be reinstated if a court determines it wasn’t for a good cause — is needed.
GOP Sen. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) will go to the Senate floor next week to try to get a vote on the bill, but is expected to be blocked from getting a vote. McConnell added Friday that “it’s not going to come up because it isn’t necessary.”
But his comments on Friday come as Trump’s decision to oust Attorney General Jeff Sessions has sparked new concerns among Democrats, and some Republicans, that Trump may be trying to interfere in the investigation, which he has decried as a “witch hunt.” Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has been critical of the investigation.
McConnell, while acknowledging that the president has “expressed his point of view” on the investigation, added that he speaks with Trump frequently and “there has never been any indication that he wants to dismiss Mueller or the investigation.”
“I can’t imagine, I can’t imagine something like that would happen. It’s not going to happen,” he said. “You’re trying to get me to speculate about things that I’m confident are not going to happen.”