Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) says it would be an “impeachable offense” if President Trump were to fire Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading the federal probe into ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia.
“I’ve been very reluctant to talk about impeachment until we have all the information coming in from the investigation. But that would be a major, major, major obstruction of justice. That would be an impeachable offense in my view,” Sanders said in an interview for The Intercept’s newly launched podcast “Deconstructed” released Friday.
Sanders joins several senators from both parties who have warned Trump against dismissing the special counsel. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Tuesday that firing Mueller would “probably” be an impeachable offense, while Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has also said he would support impeaching Trump if Mueller was fired “without cause.”
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Trump has long voiced frustration with the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential race, a probe that has also looked at whether Trump tried to obstruct the investigation.
But speculation that the president could move to oust Mueller has grown in recent days. The President voiced his ire at the special counsel’s investigation on Twitter earlier this week, questioning the fairness of the probe and mentioning Mueller by name, something he had previously resisted.
He also indirectly criticized Mueller in another tweet on Wednesday, in which he quoted lawyer Alan Dershowitz, suggesting that a special counsel should never have been appointed in the first place.
Over the weekend, John Dowd, a personal lawyer for Trump, issued a statement calling for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to dismiss Mueller. That statement was an apparent break from past comments from Trump’s legal team urging cooperation with the special counsel.
Dowd resigned from Trump’s legal team on Thursday.