Jake Tapper interviewed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on CNN's 'State of the Union' today to discuss the on going White House drama regarding the FBI. This weekend, President Donald J. Trump sent of a string of tweets leading some to wonder what his next move will be after Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe on Friday.
Many speculate that the president will fire special counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller is tasked with investigating potential collusion between Russian operatives and members of candidate Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. But tweets like the ones copied below make many Democrats and Republicans nervous that that Mueller will soon be out of a job.
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
Today, Tapper asked Sen. Graham for his reaction if Mueller is indeed fired.
“Well as I have said before, if he tried to do that, that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency because we are a rule of law nation,” the South Carolina senator told the host.
But Sen. Graham also commented that what he “saw at the FBI and Department of Justice regarding the dossier really bothered me. It was a paid political document, unverified, used inappropriately by the court, the two FBI agents investigating Clinton had a bias a bias against Trump in favor of Clinton, all that needs to be looked at.”
Sen. Graham called again for a second separate special counsel to review Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, two top level FBI agents involved romantically who were caught exchanging thousands of texts showing concrete bias against candidate Donald Trump in favor of Hillary Clinton. However, he says that none of that should lead to Robert Mueller’s firing.
“But when it comes to Mr. Mueller, he is following the evidence to where it takes him and I think it’s very important he is allowed to do his job without interference. And there are many Republicans who share my view,” Sen. Graham said.
If President Trump fired Robert Mueller, “that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency, because we are a rule of law nation,” says GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham #CNNSOTU https://t.co/YGW17KN74f https://t.co/9kkjLc7CNb
— CNN (@CNN) March 18, 2018