A Republican congressman is calling for Robert Mueller to be fired

Gaetz says that if Mueller is allowed to investigate the Trump White House, we risk a "coup d'état"

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published November 9, 2017 10:45AM (EST)

Robert Mueller (Getty/Saul Loeb)
Robert Mueller (Getty/Saul Loeb)

President Donald Trump and the White House may be scared of Robert Mueller III, but that isn't stopping one of their Republican colleagues in Congress from making bold claims about the special counsel.

"We are at risk of a coup d'état in this country if we allow an unaccountable person with no oversight to undermine the duly-elected President of the United States," Rep. Matt Gaetz declared during a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday. "That is precisely what is happening right now with the indisputable conflicts of interest that are present with Mr. Mueller and others at the Department of Justice."

Gaetz based his assertions about Mueller on the fact that the former FBI director served under President Barack Obama in 2010. That was the year in which the Obama administration permitted a Russian company to acquire a Canadian energy corporation that had uranium operations in the United States. As the Mueller probe has closed in on the Trump administration, many on the right have attempted to deflect attention from that scandal by focusing on this so-called scandal.

Gaetz was among them, even commenting in a statement on Friday that because Mueller presided at that time, "his impartiality is hopelessly compromised. He must step down immediately."

Gaetz's resolution has the support of two other right-wing congressmen, Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Louie Gohmert of Texas.

Trump himself has also complained about the Justice Department not focusing on his political opponents instead of himself.


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

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Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Andy Biggs Donald Trump Louie Gohmert Matt Gaetz Robert Mueller