Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Wednesday emphasized the need for Congress to pass a law protecting special counsel Robert Mueller after two of President Trump’s former confidants were found guilty and pleaded guilty in federal criminal probes.
In response to former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort being convicted on eight counts as part of the Russia investigation and Michael Cohen’s guilty plea on tax fraud charges, Warren said protecting the special counsel should be a top priority.
However, Warren, who is considered a contender for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, declined to address whether Manafort’s conviction Cohen’s guilty plea warrant impeachment charges against the president.
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“I think that what Congress needs to do right now, is we need to make sure that special prosecutor Mueller is fully protected from being fired by Donald Trump,” Warren said on CNN’s “New Day.”
“Donald Trump has made clear there’s only one thing he cares about, and that’s protecting his own skin,” she added.
Pressed on whether Cohen’s guilty plea in Manhattan court, in which he implicated the president in breaking campaign finance laws, was enough to bring impeachment charges, Warren again focused on the need to let Mueller finish his investigation.
“The question you’re asking is about the president of the United States, and what I’m saying is we have an ongoing investigation that is much more sweeping, that is much broader than simply what happened in New York court yesterday,” Warren said.
Trump was dealt near-simultaneous legal blows on Tuesday when Cohen pleaded guilty to bank fraud, tax fraud and campaign finance violations and Manafort was convicted on eight counts within minutes of each other.
In his plea, Cohen acknowledged that he violated campaign finance laws at the direction of a candidate for federal office, an indirect reference to Trump.
Trump largely ignored Cohen’s case, but reacted to the Manafort conviction by attacking the Russia investigation as a “witch hunt.”
Multiple senators have crafted legislation to blunt the president’s ability to fire Mueller, but no such bill has been brought up for a vote thus far.
Democrats in the House have already attempted to introduce articles of impeachment against Trump, but the vote overwhelmingly failed.